Section 32: Special Forces Unit
by Delton Wildfire
Summary: Adventure, romance, music, and laughs are abound when the superhero team Section 32 begins protecting the town of Pottsville. But what enemies shall oppose them now? Episode 2, Playing With Half a Deck, now starting! Please Read and Review!
1. Episode 0:0 Prologue: Glorious Release

Dr. Stephen Kryer walked up to the door in his dusty archeological clothing. The excavation was long and tiring for him these past four weeks, but it was finally worth it. Kryer stood in front of the legendary "Altar of the Elements".  
  
"Doctor! Doctor!" a young dark skinned boy called. He ran down the deep cave, past the lava flows and the pools of water, past the shining light coming in from the hole in the roof, past the smelly gasses slowly spouting out from deep crevices in the ground, and to Kryer at his position with his team in front of the cave.  
  
"This is amazing Hajieve. It really is," Kryer said to the boy as he continued to study the carvings on the door.  
  
"Doctor, Father Kolar is here to see you! He says that it is a matter of great importance!" Hajieve said to Kryer.  
  
"Bah! Tell the priest to wait; I must open this door now! It could hold the key to the universe! A scientific discovery like this cannot wait!" the doctor said excitedly.  
  
"I think it can Kryer. Please, I beg of you to cease and desist." The old priest hobbled from the darkness into the light. He was wearing robes of blue and red, and around his neck was a silver pendant with a symbol with a meaning no longer known to man. He was hair was balding out, and he coughed from the long journey into the cave.  
  
"Father Kolar! It truly is a pleasure to see you, but as you can see, I found the door to the room without your help. So, if you won't mind, I'll open it as I please," Kryer threatened. "For all you know Father, you are holding the world back from something that could change the world!"  
  
"It can change the world you stupid idiot! I'm sure what is concealed in that room can change the world! It's just that I don't want to see it in your hands! You wouldn't know what to do with it!" The Priest stepped forwards towards the team of archeologists threateningly with his staff. "You do not know what awaits you! You do not know what you will release from that room!"  
  
"Father! We heard what you are doing!" came from down the hall. Three tall and strong men, walked into the cave carrying swords and pikes on their backs. "These men will not open the room. We shall put our lives on it," the men said as they drew their swords.  
  
"My friends, Acknar, Cylus, and Grudo. Please, do not go to use violence. It is a dark path. I am sure that Dr. Kryer will understand the great importance that is sealed off in this room."  
  
"No father. The westerners shall never understand the myth you told us! Heed his words wisely, he speaks the truth!" Cylus yelled to Kryer.  
  
"He may speak the truth, but dead men tell no tales," Kryer said. From down the hall, gunshots went off in a bright flash of light. The three warriors fell, their backs bloody from the flying lead. Six men, wearing black suits and black sunglasses entered the lit area of the cave. Then all toted uzis over their shoulders, and they all had the same emotionless expression on their faces.  
  
"Ah, MY FRIENDS," Kryer pronounced with emphasis. "I see you have arrived just in time. Keep the priest at bay, I will get you what you want."  
  
Kryer walked over to the door and it's archaic markings. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a golden key. "There shall be no military weapon like it," he said. He took the key, and went to a slit in the door that seemed to be stranger than the others. He inserted the key and turned.  
  
Father Kolar's eyes widened as the room shook and the door began to slide back. Ancient gears turned, and the stone door slowly slid open. The tension was in the air; everyone wanted to see what would be released from inside the dark chambers. The door slid back further and further, and, just as it got wide enough for a single man to enter…  
  
The door jammed. A gear snapped and fell off.  
  
Kryer's expression went numb. He turned to the men in black and said, "Get the frickin' explosives. This doesn't seem to be going the proper way."  
  
Five Minutes Later…  
  
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!! The explosion rocked the stone door, and it fell down, smoking. Dust was kicked up all into the air, and the archeologist and his team entered with the priest and the men in black.  
  
"Oh my God. I am not worthy to see such glory…" the priest said. He fell to his knees in front of the great altar, getting out of his captor's grip. Sitting on the great altar, there were arranged 28 different crystals, each with a beam of sunlight striking down onto one. They glowed in the sunlight with strange and fantastic colors, glittering in the dark room. And, put on a small pedestal higher than the others, two green crystals sat almost like royalty.  
  
"Twenty-eight crystals, one and all, under the light of the heavens… Each one, a role assigned, and a controlling spirit made… Once released from their eternal chambers…" the priest began to pray.  
  
"Shut him up!" Kryer yelled.  
  
"The eternal apocalypse shall…" Kolar trailed off as he was shot in the back of his head. His body fell to the ground, and the man dressed in black's Uzi smoked a bit.  
  
"Thank you," Kryer said as his men and he began to study the crystals. A gun was cocked, and Kryer turned around to find the men with the guns pointing their guns at him. They fired, killing the nine men in Kryer's team, but leaving the doctor alive.  
  
A young man with neatly trimmed black hair, a black goatee, and a black suit with black tie walked into the room. He adjusted his black-framed glasses and laughed at Kryer.  
  
"I see you have found the treasure of the ancient Judges. How excellent Kryer," the man said with a smile.  
  
"This wasn't in our deal Rowen, I give you the crystals and you give me a five billion dollar research grant, under-the-table," Kryer said with fright as he held the one green crystal.  
  
"Guess what doctor? I lied," Rowen said. A gunshot ran out. The green crystal dropped next to a pool of red.  
  
  
  
At the secured military location, codenamed: Area 51, five years later…  
  
"… As you can see, the suits are working at top condition. With the extra find of the legendary weapons that match each crystal, there is no force in the world…" the professor preached from his podium at the front of the room. The lines of generals looked upon the esteemed engineer with glazed interest, and the shadowy man at the far end interrupted the briefing.  
  
"How powerful are they Professor Stevens?" he said in a gruff tone.  
  
"Sir, to answer that question, we don't really know. By our last estimate, they alone together could decimate everyone in New York City and 100 miles around that. But that estimation is exactly that. Estimation. We don't know if the human body could withstand such energy intake…" the professor said.  
  
"And what about the legendary souls required to harness the power of the crystals? What will we do about them?" a general said.  
  
"General Smith, I assure you that they are not needed," Rowen Darkblade piped up from his corner of the room. He walked out from the shadows and into the dim light of the meeting room and over to the table where the Shadow Government of the Military was seated. "That is why we designed the X-10 cybersuit project. Instead of having the crystal interface directly with a user, as was stated in the holy text of the Book of the Judges, which I found in Father Kolar's former office, they shall be forced to interface with the suits."  
  
"I disagree with that idea," General Brown said. "I was the one who sent a man to test out the suit codenamed HydroBlast. Last I saw of him, he was drowned in the test phases, literally. Now one knows how, seeing he wasn't even near a body of water, but in an enclosed test room the entire time. My best man is dead Rowen, and it's all because he isn't 'compatible' with your fucking crystals. Nukes are all we need!" the general said. The other members of the Shadow Government began to nod their heads in agreement.  
  
An explosion was heard, breaking up the conversation. Alarms went off all over the base. Soldiers began to run to the blast site, and scientists and engineers were running away. Rowen looked out of the room to find a scientist running down the hall, screaming. He was on fire and trailing smoke down the hall. A soldier passed by Rowen, holding his face and screaming as well. Someone had shot acid all over his face. Some soldiers were being carted away by medics, babbling about ones and zeros like no tomorrow. And medics were supporting another scientist, he just wasn't alive.  
  
Rowen waved a finger over to the medics supporting the scientist and they walked into the room. "Would you like to explain what has happened here!" Rowen commanded.  
  
"Sir!" the one medic began, "The crystals have escaped with the suits they were grafted in with sir! They attacked the test scientists and broke through levels 16 on up. Massive damage has been sustained to the beta wing!"  
  
"What happened to him!" Rowen yelled while pointing at the dead scientist.  
  
"Commander Darkblade," the other medic said, "We believe that this scientist no longer has a working mind. He ran in with PsiBlast," they said before leaving.  
  
"The Psychic Blast suit can do that, that easily!" General Addison asked.  
  
"I told you that these suits were powerful Generals," Rowen said.  
  
"Shadow Government, if this does not convince you of the Elemental Crystals true power, than nothing will. They have broken from our bonds, and are escaping to their controlling souls. Send in Yetack!" the shadowy figure called.  
  
A few minutes later, a respectable looking soldier walking into the room. "Generals, Sir Shadown, and Commander Darkblade, the crystals have assimilated their Cybersuits and are now forming like comets across the night sky. Their estimated direction is towards Pennsylvania," he said.  
  
"Follow them as well as you can. We shall reclaim our suits whether it is the last thing we do," Sir Shadown commanded. 


	2. Episode 1:1 Night of the Burning Colors

"That was such a long time ago, wasn't it Kristen?" Lauren asked. She leaned back into her seat and took a sip of the hot chocolate in front of her. She pushed back her brown hair and looked to her good friend across the table, but they weren't alone.  
  
Sitting to Kristen's left, there was a young boy with spiked up, short brown hair. He kicked back and put his feet up onto the table and reached for his tall glass of Coke and took a large gulp. "Long time ago, was that like three years ago?" Colin asked.  
  
"Yeah Colin, it was like three years ago. That was back when we first got a hold of the crystals," Kristen replied. Her blond hair was short, and her skin was somewhat pale in the light as she looked onwards to her friends. She smiled a bit at the thought and a small laugh came out from her mouth. "I can't believe my ignorance with speaking with hostages,"  
  
"I don't think you really have to worry. We put on concerts for the people when everyone feels really low. Our public relations are up, aren't they?" Mike asked from the opposite side of the table. He pushed his blue tinted glasses up onto his face and took another bite of his pizza. "I think I had a better experience with finding my crystal thought," he continued with his mouth full.  
  
"Nah, everyone knows I had the best. I was the first out of all of you, and first always gets the best time," Colin commented.  
  
"Ok Mister. Tell us," Kristen commanded.  
  
"All right, I will," Colin said. And with that, he began his story.  
  
  
  
The doorbell rang and Andrew walked out of the living room and to the door leading into his house. He opened the door to find Colin on the other side, standing with a backpack, a gym bag, and a sleeping bag in a big pile. He laughed and invited his friend into the house, and helped him with his piles of stuff.  
  
"Big sleepover tonight, we are gonna have so much fun. Did you rent Scream I and II?" Colin asked.  
  
Andrew looked up from putting Colin's stuff with the other pile of stuff and laughed as his blue eyes locked onto Colin's brown eyes. "Yeah, but I don't know why. Scream really sucks big time."  
  
"So, that's even better. There's nothing cooler than making fun of horror movies. Especially the bad ones."  
  
"Hey Colin's here! Great, we can start Dungeons and Dragons!" came a deep voice from the kitchen in the next room. A tall, large guy walked through the doorframe carrying a bowl of chips in one hand, and a bowl of pretzels in the other.  
  
"Aaron, please don't eat everything at once," Andrew said as he viewed the double bowls.  
  
"I got it under control Smink," Aaron replied.  
  
Right as Aaron sat down onto the couch, two more guys appeared out of the kitchen. One was darker skinned than the other, like he was from some tropical area. The other was almost pale if you were to compare the two. They were both the same stout medium build, and they had the same black hairstyle.  
  
"Safety," Fred called, then proceeding to run around the room to waft the disgusting smell to everyone else. Fred then sat down and put his dark colored hand to work in stealing Aaron's cache of pretzels.  
  
"That was…Well… Uncalled for… But wickedly funny!" Ryan said as he put his sleeping bag out with his pillow.  
  
"So, who's gonna be DM?" Aaron asked.  
  
"I guess me as usual. I'm always DM," Fred replied. He went over to his bag and pulled out the three rulebooks for D&D. Andrew and Colin ran around trying to get pencils and paper so they could begin.  
  
12:32 PM  
  
The group of five had fallen asleep and were sprawled across the ground of the large living room in a random fashion. Aaron sounded like a buzz saw in the otherwise normally quiet area. Fred kept tossing and turning in the night, like he was having a bad dream. And in the middle of it all, Colin lept up from his slumber and looked around in a shocked manner.  
  
"What was that?" he whispered to himself. He got up and walked over to the fireplace to get his black-framed glasses. He slipped them onto his face and walked into the kitchen area. Towards the back of the kitchen he found what he was looking for, the large bay window that looked out onto Andy's backyard.  
  
The sky was dark and alit with stars. The moon was a sliver of silver in the sky, but still lighting up the clouds with a sliver tint. Colin sighed; he really didn't know what was going on and why he was looking outside.  
  
A green flash, though, peaked his interest. He could have sworn that he had just seen a green bolt shoot across the sky. He spun around quickly to get his friends when he came face to face with Andrew, a very sleepy Andrew.  
  
"Colin, what are you doing up anyway? Are the squirrels dancing outside again?" Andrew said with a yawn.  
  
"Smink! This is no time for squirrels or their dances. I just saw some weird colored comet shoot across the sky in that direction!" he said as he pointed out the window. As Andy looked, his eyes widened too. The two boys witnessed a fiery red bolt of light shoot across the sky as well.  
  
"I see you aren't kidding. And even better is that I don't have to pay to see any of this. Let's get Fred and Aaron and Ryan," Andrew said.  
  
"I'll go outside and watch for the comets again. Maybe another will pass over us," Colin replied. He pushed open the back door and ran outside in the lawn with his bare feet. He ran up to the fence at the end of the yard and flung open the gate. He was standing on Howard Avenue, the widest street in Pottsville. He looked up, getting a great view of the sky, and tried to find what he was seeking.  
  
Andrew, Fred, and Ryan ran up to Colin and they got in some sort of a line across the street. "What are we looking for again? A comet light show?" Fred asked with some disbelief.  
  
"Yeah, something like that. I'm not sure what it was," Colin replied.  
  
"I think I'm paying to see it!" Andrew said in a semi-scared tone. As they looked to their left, it was like a rainbow of comets was flying across the sky over Pottsville. There were bolts of every color imaginable in the rainbow of comets. There were greens to blues to violets to oranges, everything. And then, in a loud bang, they began to split apart for some strange reason.  
  
"What the hell is happening?" Ryan yelled. The comets began to shoot down all over Pottsville like a colored rain. And to make things worse, four comets began to change direction and point over towards Howard Avenue. The four guys were paralyzed.  
  
"We should run really fast right now, shouldn't we!!!" Fred yelled.  
  
"I don't want to move, I want to watch…" Colin replied, watching the comet come closer.  
  
"This is nuts! We're gonna die from being hit by a random comet! What sort of epitaph is that?!" Ryan yelled.  
  
"We'll be fine…" Colin said in a matter of fact voice. "She told me we would be fine, and that we should stand here…" It was clear that the guy was zoning out.  
  
The red bolt shot down from above and slammed into Andrew's chest. He went flying backwards down the street. "Andrew!!!" Fred yelled backwards. He spun around was we immediately met by an orange comet that as well hit him in the chest. He flew into the nearest tree and slumped to the ground.  
  
"NO!!!" Ryan yelled as he began to run. The blue comet changed course and flew around in front of him, making him stop and look face to face with it. Then, the blue comet shot into his chest, and blood went everywhere. He fell to the ground, no questions asked.  
  
"Come to me! I shall serve you well, my mistress!!" Colin yelled up to the remaining green comet. His eyes turned a green color and his insane smile on his face began to speak two different body languages. A part of him really wanted to run, but it was clear the other half was almost being possessed.  
  
The bolt shot from above and aimed for his chest. Colin looked into the comet, and looked directly as the green crystal enclosed in the tip of the energy trail met with his chest. A green explosion of energy went off, and all of time seemed to grind to a halt. The crystal did not pierce his chest, but it stopped right in front. Colin looked forward, and a beautiful lady came down from above, into the stopped world.  
  
She was dressed in a long angelic looking neon green gown. Her skin was a pale green, and her lips and eyes a vibrant, ever changing color. Her hair was like fiber optics, alit with an eternal green color that would never go away. Her great wings were almost hologram like, they had no sustenance, but looked as if they were made from a gigantic laser sheet. She smiled at Colin, and Colin smiled back.  
  
"My lady, you have come," Colin said, kneeling.  
  
"Rise my most faithful! It is by your duty to protect this world. Do you accept?" she commanded.  
  
"Protect it from what?" Colin asked.  
  
"That you shall see. Do you accept my offer?" she asked again.  
  
"Yes, yes I do!" Colin pleaded.  
  
"The rise Lord of CyberSpace. Your request is granted," she said. She pulled from the world a neon green sword. It was long and curved; it had to be a katana. She touched both of Colin's shoulders and then his head, where a symbol of a C being stuck out by an S appeared. She dropped the sword, and it flew to Colin's hands, and he raised it up, almost by instinct.  
  
Around him curled a suit of mechanical armor. It was a dark silver battle suit, made for heavy punishment by energy weapons. In the flexible areas, he had a black Kevlar suit underneath to protect his body, but to allow movement. He had black gloves on his hands, and it felt quite comfortable when holding his sword.  
  
His spiked up hair grew in length and spiked outwards even more as it turned a bright green color. Colin moved his free hand through it, like an instinct, as a band of energy appeared around his head. The green energy transformed into a metal headband that held a green plastic monocle over his left eye. The monocle began to display information that he had no clue what it meant, but he knew it was fine. The suit became energized and he felt movement, an almost totally burdenless amount of movement. The symbol on his forehead disappeared, and was engraved into his left shoulder, right next to the swoosh of metal that seemed to resemble his mistress's wings. He had one swoosh on both sides of his suit, sort of like a status symbol of some sort.  
  
As the lady began to fly back up to the heavens, Colin waved to her. He spun his sword around and quickly landed it into his backsheath, where it was locked in and kept safe.  
  
"I shall protect the world my lady as CyberStrike! And you shall never have to worry!" he called to her. She turned around and smiled.  
  
Time flew again, the suit disappeared quickly and the crystal pierced his chest. Colin felt the pain, but he accepted it. Blood went down his hand and shirt as he lay on the ground. He didn't care.  
  
9:20 AM, the next day  
  
Colin looked out to the world on his deck. He had awoken in Andrew's house without a single scratch on him. He wondered how he had gotten back into Smink's house, because he couldn't remember walking back. And that wound was really a powerful wound, but there was no mark on his chest or anything. He looked out at the sun and blue sky and wondered.  
  
"Did it happen? Did it really happen?" he asked himself. He knew the answer immediately.  
  
"Yes." 


	3. Episode 1:2 Threat Emerged

Mike grinned and took another bite of the pizza before him. "All right, you got me there. I guess that was a good story," he confessed.  
  
Colin laughed. "Yeah, I know it was. And I'm modest too."  
  
"Beating up robbers, saving the cities, stopping madmen who like to kill us. You know, our job gets so repetitive. I mean these people can't even get their lines straight. It's the same, 'I'm gonna kill you stupid metal people!' every time. If this is what she meant by 'saving the world' Colin, then this is pretty lame. When are we going to have a challenge?" Kristen wondered aloud.  
  
"I don't know. I just don't know. Does it look like I have all the answers? Cause' I don't. Maybe things will pick up soon," Colin commented.  
  
"I don't know about you guys, but I don't want things to pick up. Playing superhero as a past time is fine by me. I don't want to be hired onto this team as full time. That and the possibility of death scares me. What are we going to do if one of us dies in the line of duty? Our parents don't know we do this for a second living. What would we say?" Lauren said. The room fell silent. No one had an answer.  
  
"I don't know Lauren. Hopefully it will never happen," Colin said. He looked down to his watch and grimaced. "Ah geez, it's ten o'clock. I think it's time to pack up shop for the night and go home."  
  
"Agreed, let's just blow this popsicle stand," Mike joked. The four got up, cleaned off the table, and left the darkened room.  
  
  
  
11:00 PM, Somewhere else in Pottsville…  
  
Jessica tossed and turned in her bed. Her dreams were haunting her like no tomorrow. She tossed back her short blond hair as she rolled over to her left and groaned. Her parents slowly opened the door to her room and looked inside.  
  
"Honey, do you think she's all right?" her dad said to her mom.  
  
"Yeah, it's just a dream. We should really get to bed," her mom replied. They closed the door to her room silently, and Jessica continued to dream on.  
  
  
  
Jessica ran down a black hallway, looking for an exit. She was scared; she didn't know where she was. She had never been here before, but it was almost like she should have been here before. All she wanted was to escape though, before it was too late.  
  
"Stop right there!" a man in a black outfit called after her. She ducked behind a corner as a gunshot went off. She breathed hard and looked around the corner in fright. They were lining up, trying to block her escape. She turned back around and concentrated, trying to think logically on how to escape. As she wondered in deep thought, her body felt different. She began to tingle all over, like someone was shaking her really quickly, or one of those massaging chairs.  
  
She opened her eyes and saw something completely different. Everything was in green and blue. She could see down the hallways like it was day, and she felt powerful. She slinked down onto her four legs, and stealthily looked around the corner. They were still blocking her exit. Excellent.  
  
She barreled around the corner with blinding speed, roaring. The men dressed in their black outfits looked at her in fright. "Cheetah!! Cheetah!!!" the one screamed. The commander backed off.  
  
"It's the crystal of transformation! Run!" he yelled. The men dropped their weapons and began to bolt down the hallway as Jessica chased them…  
  
  
  
Jessica bolted out of her bed in a sweat. She looked around; she was in her own room and not some weird place. She flopped back down onto her bed and sighed.  
  
"Why can't I do that in real life?" she wondered aloud. She got up and looked out the window to see the city. She looked at the lights below, and the stars above and wished to be a more powerful and assertive person than she was.  
  
Jessica was a tall girl, tall and thin. People that knew her compared her to a stick figure frequently. She was wild, but quiet around people she didn't know too well, and that's what she wanted to change. She didn't want to be so afraid to speak around those she didn't know. She wanted to be something more, something like that mysterious CyberSlash girl who saved those 10 hostages, or that PowerCharge girl who could wrap people up in some sort of force. She wanted to be on with Section 32, whoever they were.  
  
Jessica got up and crawled back into bed. She curled up underneath her covers and fell back asleep. As she slept, her orange and spotted black tail fell out from underneath the covers. It wagged for a second, and then went limp.  
  
  
  
Thursday, 8:15 AM, Pottsville Area High School: Mr. Schneider's Classroom  
  
Lauren looked up to the whiteboard in the classroom and barely focused on the equation f(x) = f(x-1) + 3x. She was still tired from last night and really didn't want to be bothered by math.  
  
Mike was struggling to get the Algebra 2 Honors homework done before Mr. Schneider called on him to give some sort of an answer. He forgot to do it last night, because he was so raring to go out to the base and do the night shift.  
  
Colin's head was playing a balancing act on the left wall, right next to where he sat. The first row of desks was pushed right up against the old chalkboard that was inscribed with many different forms of graffiti, such as the one that said "Craig '02" or the more threatening one that said "Schneider Blows".  
  
"Now for number 12, Colin would you do that for us?" Mr. Schneider said. Colin's head flew off the wall in fright and he looked down to his half done homework to find that he didn't do any evens. Colin cursed underneath his breath and quickly looked to the last one.  
  
"F of X is equal to three point two four?" Colin said. Mr. Schneider gave him a sideways glance and looked to the rest of the class.  
  
"Aubrei? Would you try it?" he said. Aubrei looked to her sheet and then back to Mr. Schneider.  
  
"F of X is equal to two?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, of course, F of X is equal to two. Number 13?" Mr. Schneider continued. He was cut off by an announcement from the principal.  
  
"Pardon the interruption…" Mr. Wagner began to state.  
  
  
  
Jessica looked up from her work in Spanish class and halfway listened to the announcement. It seemed that a bunch of girls were being called to the clinic. She put her head back down to look at her work when she heard, "And Jessica Zane, to the clinic please. That is all. Thank you," before the intercom clicked off.  
  
Jessica looked bewildered for a second, and then packed up her things. "Why would they want me?" she wondered as she left the classroom.  
  
  
  
"Well, if the principal says that there is some sort of vaccination thing going on, then I cannot complain. Girls who were called, I think you should leave," Mr. Schneider said.  
  
Lauren frowned at the announcement and looked around. "Why on Earth wouldn't Mr. Schneider be notified of such an announcement? Wouldn't the faculty be told when something like this happens?" she thought. She looked over to Colin, who could do nothing but shrug back and continue paying attention to the class.  
  
  
  
In the Clinic…  
  
"And what sort of vaccine is this again?" Mrs. Tobash, the school nurse, asked the doctor dressed in the white lab coat carrying a large medical box.  
  
"It's a vaccine to help out against the flu this season. You know, winter can really shock your immune system," the doctor said.  
  
"But why those girls?" Mrs. Tobash shot back.  
  
"Um… Well, you see that each of them were primary candidates for this drug. It is new and quite powerful, and each of them has a history of getting sick in the winter. White Labs is just trying to help out a bit in the local school districts. Now if you would be so kind to leave me to my business," the doctor said as he got out a hypodermic needle.  
  
"Well, ok doctor, if you say you don't need the help. I'll be down sorting my files in the office, if you need me," Mrs. Tobash said before she left the small clinic. The doctor got out a black cellular phone and hit a button before putting it up to his ear.  
  
"Yes Mr. Darkblade, everything is going under orders. We called those girls down, and I'm about to administer the test mind control drug," he said into the phone.  
  
  
  
"Good work. I'm quite pleased," Rowen said back. "Hopefully, if this works on the girls we selected, then we can move to phase two and use it against that pathetic union of S32. Having them under our control would be quite pleasing. Call me back when you succeed," Rowen said before hanging up the phone.  
  
Commander Darkblade kicked his heels up onto his desk like he was on top of the world. In front of him were the profiles of the girls selected.  
  
"All strong, all smart, and all in Pottsville. Section 32 will have no chance if this drug actually takes affect properly. And once we infect their girls with the EVE virus, then the male unit of Section 32 will fall to their knees. They wouldn't hurt their friends," he laughed. "And once ADAM is complete, we'll just have the girls work their magic with the guys. HA HA HA! Check and mate Lord CyberStrike!" Rowen laughed before throwing a dart into a picture of CyberStrike holding up his sword proudly at the other end of the room.  
  
  
  
10:57 AM, Pottsville Area High School: Cafeteria  
  
"Jessica, you don't look too well…" Maeve said to her friend as she sat down at the table.  
  
"Yeah, I know, I just haven't been feeling like myself after that vaccination thing. You know, I have this strange pain in my chest, and this burning feeling through out my body," Jessica said in a very worried tone.  
  
  
  
The mock doctor looked into the cafeteria and looked at the girls he "vaccinated". "Damn, none of them are taking any commands. Maybe EVE doesn't work after all. I better tell Commander Darkblade before he has my head on a plate and served in Area 51," the doctor thought.  
  
"So, you're the guy from that new laboratory with that new vaccination?" Mr. Fries, the conductor of the band said to the doctor. The doctor turned around to see the prim and proper Mr. Fries standing in the doorway on cafeteria duty.  
  
"Why yes, yes I am. Now if you will excuse me sir, I will be leaving your nice high school. I have a busy schedule to keep with the other school districts, and I was just making sure that the girls were all right," he said before going through the doorway, down the hall, up the steps at the end of the hall, and out the door into the courtyard in the back of the school.  
  
Mr. Fries watched him and shrugged to himself. "I just wanted to ask him what the vaccination did," he said to himself.  
  
"Jess, you better go to Mrs. Tobash. You really don't look well at all, and with your symptoms," Maeve said with a concerned look.  
  
"Maybe you're right. I just feel like I'm on some sort of a roller coaster of ups and downs," Jessica said before leaving.  
  
Jess walked up the steps at the other end of the cafeteria to the first floor. As she passed the girls room, she felt a sudden upset in her stomach. She quickly turned, fearing the worst, and ran into the bathroom and to a stall.  
  
"God, I hope I don't puke today. I have a chem. test…" she feared. Suddenly, all the pain and burning feelings stopped in her body. She felt better.  
  
"That was weird," she said to herself. She looked down at her hands and immediately jumped backwards and almost fainted. They were becoming swollen and black. They began to tingle, and her fingernails became long, pointed, and black.  
  
"What is happ…ppp…ing to me!!!" she stuttered and screamed as the black color ran up her arms. Her arms felt like Jello and they began to extend until her hands, now so large that they could wrap around the chest of a human, hit the floor. Pain ran all about her arms and legs and chest, and she could do nothing but scream at the changes before she blacked out… 


	4. Episode 1:3 Infestation

Colin sat down at his lunch table with his tray and began to politely eat his chicken patty on a roll, the hot lunch for that Thursday. Soon, his friends joined him, Mike first and then Smink.  
  
Smink looked over his tray with concern, and particularly at the French Fries. "I'm missing something," he murmured to himself. He then snapped his fingers and grabbed his plate. "Ketchup!" he cried before running back off to the lunch line.  
  
"Does he ever get normal?" Mike asked as he unpacked his sandwich and chips from his backpack.  
  
"Nah, he only gets stranger by the day," Colin replied, absentmindedly twirling a French fry in a small pile of ketchup on his plate.  
  
"And we trust him with the Fire Crystal?" Mike asked with an odd look on his face.  
  
"Yeah," was Colin's only reply.  
  
A blond haired boy soon sat down at their table and smiled at the two. His green eyes looked from Colin and then to Mike before he got out his salad dressing container and poured it all over his salad. "Yo, Feeney, slow down on the dressing," Mike said with a smile.  
  
"It's a good day, isn't it Mike? Can't I pour salad dressing on my salad?" Feeney shot back with a smile as he emptied the container.  
  
"I guess I'm too late," Mike replied.  
  
"Hey, are you all ready for the Chemistry test?" Jenna asked as she sat down with her boyfriend, Bob. She got out her comb and began to re-adjust her short blond hair in a compact she produced from her pocket.  
  
"Yeah, pretty ready. I studied a lot last night to prepare. I hope I get an A, I need it," Mike said.  
  
"Don't worry, Mr. Portland gives really easy tests. I remember getting almost all A's on them last year," Bob said as he opened up his bag of chips and his sandwich.  
  
Smink finally returned with his plate. There was now a pool of ketchup covering a fourth of the plate. He smiled to everyone as he sat down, and he proudly put his napkin on his lap. "It took me a bottle and a half to get enough," he laughed as he dipped a fry into the pool of red. Everyone just looked with wide eyes and then returned to their own conversations. The table was full of cheer, laughter, and general gossip as the period went on, and nothing else until someone had to ask,  
  
"Hey Colin, how did last night's watch go?" Bob said in an inquiring tone.  
  
"Well, unless you count Mike choking on the cheese of his pizza, it was pretty boring," Colin said.  
  
"Hey, I didn't choke!" Mike retorted.  
  
"Than that coughing and hacking was for no reason then?"  
  
"Never mind..." Mike said softly.  
  
"You mean no robberies, no assaults, no disturbing the peace? Not even a cat in a tree? Just a boring night watch?" Feeney asked.  
  
"Yep, just a boring night watch. Like I said, none of you were required," Colin said as he leaned back.  
  
"That's good, because I had work anyway and I couldn't get off!" Bob laughed. "Yeah, uh, boss, I have to go help out save the town, you know..." The table laughed and then the conversation slowly turned to normal gossip again.  
  
"Jessica? You're back so soon?" Maeve said as her friend sat down at the table again with the rest of the girls.  
  
"Yeah, the nurse said I was fine. I really don't feel so bad anymore," Jessica said happily as she put her tray down and dropped her books.  
  
"Really? You look kinda pale. But if the nurse says," Maeve continued.  
  
"I'm fine, really," Jessica shot back. "I must take this Chemistry test anyway. I need an A."  
  
"OK, calm down there girl," Maeve retorted, putting her hands up. Lauren looked down the table at Jessica. She never saw her act like that before. Kind, caring, and shy Jessica just suddenly going into an outburst when she was called pale? That didn't click with Lauren too well. "And come to think of it," she thought, "I don't remember her ever painting her fingernails black before. In fact, I don't even remembering them being black earlier on in the day."  
  
"Jessica, when did you do your nails in black? I didn't notice it before," Lauren said kindly.  
  
"Well, you just must be blind then, because they were done like this all day!" she exclaimed. "Maeve, can I borrow a napkin?" she continued to ask. Lauren backed off and continued to eat her chicken patty while looking over her Chemistry notes.  
  
"Um, sure Jessica," Maeve said, a bit afraid. Jessica leaned over and took a napkin from Maeve's tray. But, as her hand passed, she dug her nail into the bun of the chicken patty on Maeve's tray. She made sure her movement wasn't noticed by any of them. As she wiped her mouth, she secretly smiled to herself under the napkin.  
  
As the lunch continued, Maeve grew paler and paler. "I don't feel so well," she said to the others. She suddenly sneezed, without covering her mouth, or making an attempt to cover it.  
  
"Geez, watch it Maeve! You got spit all over me!" another girl said at the table. It seemed that her saliva went all over the table.  
  
"Sorry," Maeve replied as she looked back down at her tray. She wasn't hungry anymore and she got up and went to throw out her food.  
  
  
  
11:45 AM, Pottsville Area High School: Mr. Portland's Classroom  
  
"I hope that we are all ready for today's wonderful exam!" the gray-haired and balding Mr. Portland said happily as he entered the room. Most of the students quickly groaned at the comment, and went back to studying their notes in a last ditch attempt to learn.  
  
Maeve sat down at her lab table with Colin, Smink, and Aubrei. She immediately sneezed, covering the area with saliva and snot once again. Smink politely got out an extra napkin from lunch that he had in his pocket and wiped his area clean and went back to studying his notes.  
  
"Maeve, you really don't look too good," the tall Aubrei said as she looked up.  
  
"Yeah, I know, but I have to get this test in," she said sickly, but with emphasis.  
  
"You sure that you don't want to go down to the clinic? You could get out of the test!" Aubrei said happily. "I'd take it while you can get it."  
  
"I'm fine, and I will take this test!" Maeve said definitely.  
  
"Testy, testy," Colin said as he barely looked up from his notes. As he readjusted his glasses, he saw Lauren enter the room and walk over to him.  
  
"Hey could you help me with the notes?" she said. There was dead serious look in her eye.  
  
"Yeah sure," he replied as she sat down next to him closely. "What's up?" he asked her in a whisper.  
  
"Jessica doesn't seem herself, and neither does Maeve now. Everyone I know seems to be getting sick, including me. I don't know how to describe it, but it really isn't cool," she said in a worried tone.  
  
"All right, I say we look into it after this period. You know, we just can't walk out of the test without a good reason," he replied.  
  
"All right, we'll go to the elevator after this period," she whispered. She stood up and gathered her notebook. "Thanks for the help, Colin," she said nicely.  
  
"No problem Lauren, anytime," he replied. Mr. Portland came around with the test papers, and everyone packed up and got out their pencils and pens.  
  
  
  
A few minutes later...  
  
All the girls in the room were sneezing and coughing. It was getting quite annoying for the men, who were all trying to cover their ears and write chemical equations at the same time. But one girl still didn't seem to be coughing or hacking like the rest of them, and Colin kept glancing over at her. Jessica, why wasn't she sick?  
  
Jessica got up from her desk with a concerned look on her face and she went over to Mr. Portland. She said something to him that Colin couldn't hear, and he pointed over to his desk. She walked over and got a blue hall pass and walked out of the classroom. "Where's she going?" he thought to himself.  
  
"Boys must die..." Aubrei muttered to herself as she took the test.  
  
"Beg your pardon?" Smink said softly.  
  
"You heard her. The male species shall keel over soon," Maeve shot back. The two boys looked at one another in shock at hearing what they heard.  
  
"No talking!" Mr. Portland said from his position over at the front desk.  
  
"Shut up Portland! We're sick of you men!" Kara, a girl over at another table who liked Mr. Portland, said to him.  
  
"Miss Kara, control yourself or go to the dean!" he said back, not amused. Kara got up and jumped across the room and tried to tackle him. He ducked out of the way and she slammed against the whiteboard on that side of the room. She got back up and growled at Mr. Portland, whose eyes widened.  
  
"Die!" Maeve and Aubrei said at the same time. Maeve went for Smink's throat and Aubrei punched Colin in the face. The two evacuated their seats, Smink being dragged by Maeve and Colin being attacked by Aubrei.  
  
"What the hell is going on!?" Colin yelled back as he punched Aubrei. She flew backwards from his punch, and he continued at her until she fell unconscious. He knew she wasn't herself.  
  
Smink broke Maeve's chokehold and kicked her in the gut. Her eyes went cross-eyed and she fell to the floor, gasping for breath. Smink and Colin went back to back and looked around the room. It seems all the girls were doing the same thing. Most of the boys had fled the room, and all that were left was Mr. Portland and Justin, one of their friends.  
  
Justin ran past Purcell and flying kicked her in the head in defense after dodging her blows. She fell backwards from the blow, and went straight to the ground after knocking her head off of one of the lab tables. "This really isn't right!" he exclaimed as he sided with the other two.  
  
"We need to fuse, and fast Colin!" Smink said.  
  
"I agree, it's time for the armor and time to get to the bottom of this mess," Justin said.  
  
"OK, let's get out of here, Mr. Portland, get out of the school!" Colin cried.  
  
"Right you are Mr. Colin, right you are sir!" he said as he got away from Kara and out of the room.  
  
A shout rang out from down the hall, "Girls! The time is now! Let our revolution begin!"  
  
"What the heck!" the three boys exclaimed as they ran for the door. 


	5. Episode 1:4 Boys Vs Girls

Justin, Colin, and Smink got into the boy's bathroom and slammed the door quickly and locked it.  
  
"They're like vultures now! Attacking every man in sight!" Smink cried.  
  
"Yeah, and where did that feminine voice come from that shouted 'Let the revolution begin!' What the heck is going on, that's what I want to know," Justin said as they leaned against the wall.  
  
"I think only CyberStrike, FireStorm, and Mirage can find that out. Come on let's get the armor on!" Colin said proudly. He raised his hand and looked down at his sliver watch. The black screen on it changed from time, to a measure of his heartbeat and a strange green line that pierced the red heartbeat line.  
  
"Cyber fuse!!" Colin shouted. The watch reacted and the heartbeat stopped, Colin went into cardiac arrest as the green line began to pulse.  
  
Smink and Justin did the same thing. Raising their watches, Smink called out, "Fire fuse!" and Justin called out, "Illusion fuse!" They both went into a state of shock as well.  
  
Energy swirled around the trio, neon green energy for Colin, red energy for Smink, and deep forest green energy for Justin. Slowly, fragments of metal came out from nowhere and began to piece themselves all over their bodies, creating a suit of metal around them. They opened their mouths and the energy slammed down their throats and reacted, turning their hair the color of their patron elements and making their eyes glow with their colors.  
  
The energy intake became so bright, that the room was filled with colors, and the trio couldn't be seen any more. When the energy finally died down, three warriors of justice and peace were standing there in their cybernetic armors.  
  
Colin's hair was thrown upwards into random spikes and turned neon green. His green eyes looked through his green monocle that was attached to his metal headband. He moved his communications microphone next to his mouth for good reception of his voice. He had become paler in his darker titanium suit, and he readjusted the crystal sword in his hand. In one fluid motion, he sheathed the green crystal katana into his metal backsheath, and let out a breath of air. CyberStrike looked to his friends and smiled. "Ready?" he asked.  
  
Smink's hair became fiery red and had kept its puffiness, like good old Smink. His eyes glowed with a red color, and contrasted with his blackened skin, like he had been working around a furnace for too long. His red energy-made monocle displayed random numbers and temperature information as well as communications status with the rest of his friends. On his back was a black metal crossbow with a quiver of arrows with red crystal tips, and on his arm there was his military made weapon, his flamethrower. FireStorm laughed as he hit a couple buttons on the side of the flamethrower, and the gun made a couple noises as it lit the pilot flame at the nozzle, just above and beyond his left hand. "I'm all fired up, what a pun," he replied.  
  
Justin's short hair had become almost a camouflage green color and it had flattened out and looked very neat and proper. His armor had a green tint to it and it also had a very dark green trim color for the Kevlar suit underneath. On his left leg, he carried a long, green metal sniper rifle with an enhanced scope. He adjusted his black gloves, and he looked into his dark green monocle as well for his boot up information. He looked down to his right arm, and read the status check on the LCD screen there. "I'm ready, the cloaking device is ready to go at any time I need it. You want stealth, I got it," he said.  
  
Strike smiled again and opened the door. "OK, we're clear. Let's go and find the culprit behind this mess."  
  
"Wait, there's no one out there? What happened to them all?" Mirage said as they walked outside and looked around.  
  
"Could they be in one of the rooms you think?" FireStorm asked.  
  
"Nah, there's too many of them with that weird sickness. We would know if they were all in the same room because we could hear the sneezing and coughing from a mile away," Strike said. They laughed silently and continued walking down the third floor hallway, looking around.  
  
"Guys, I'm feeling a large amount of Cyberspace usage. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I'm feeling a lot of energy..." Strike trailed off.  
  
"I feel it too, it's just a large bundle of energy. It all feels like one source though," Storm said.  
  
"Wait, I hear something. Like footsteps coming from the observatory hallway," Mirage said. The three stopped dead in the middle of the hallway and looked straight ahead as they got into a defensive stance.  
  
"Come on girls, they're down this hallway!" the familiar female voice said. A fleet of girls, all walking in time like zombies, came from the end of the hallway from the observatory hall. They looked at the three and some of them got back and hissed un-naturally.  
  
"It's Section 32! Mistress of Disease, what should we do?" one girl in the front said in a scared tone.  
  
"Let me talk with them," came from down the observatory hall. The hallway fell dead silent, the girls stopped making any noise and they all bowed at the same time.  
  
"What the hell is this?" Mirage muttered to Storm and Strike. A skittering noise could be heard, and a black figure crawled from the hallway, crawling across the ceiling. The shadowy figure pulled a black flip from the ceiling and landed on the floor, showing itself. It was tall, very tall, and monstrous.  
  
Her face was pale, but beautiful in a scary way. Her eyes were the color gray and looked very cold as she stood there and looked at the three boys. Her hair was jet black, and it was pulled out into a short flip, like "That Girl", only sharper, like blade edge sharp. Her smiled was wicked; the fangs just made everything on her face seem like a dream.  
  
As you followed her body down from her head, her shoulders seemed normal, but as you traveled down her arms, they slowly became twisted into a black ragged carapace like a mockery of prom dress fabric. Her new black skin twisted into her enlarged hands that could probably crush a normal man's chest. And the black claws on the end of her fingers made her hands that much more deadly.  
  
Her main body was a total mockery of a revealing party dress. It was ripped and ragged, but still strong and sturdy like the dress parts of her arms. The straps of the dress draped across her pale shoulders and held the rest of the dress up so it wouldn't be too revealing, but it was revealing enough to make any man drool at the sight of her large chest. The stomach area of the dress was ripped like someone had taken her claws and purposely made her swipe them at herself, revealing her pale thin body from underneath the dress. The dress extended down to her ankles, where by then it was ripped, tattered, and torn like no tomorrow.  
  
Her feet looked like normal black hi-heels at first glance, but at second one could tell what they were. Her feet had become twisted like the rest of her body, like black hooves that were petite and shoe like. The heel of the shoes was very high, and very pointed, no doubt to be used on victims that happened to be lying on the ground, or to use when kicking a person. No one wanted to be impaled on those suckers.  
  
"My name is Parasite Eve. And who would I be speaking with," she said with a wicked smile.  
  
The three stared at her for a second before they looked at each other with various expressions. Then, CyberStrike began to laugh, and then all began to laugh, falling over on one another. Eve's face turned from a smile, to a scornfully straight face. "What's so funny?" she said.  
  
"You can't be serious! Hah hah ha! Parasite Eve is a game for the Playstation, and not to mention the fact that you look like the game's main monster, Eve, you unoriginal bitch! By the way, it's Strike, CyberStrike to you." Strike laughed.  
  
"Oh, and nice rack! I feel like I can drop a soda down that canyon and not find it for a week! Ha! I'm Mirage, you won't see me coming!" Mirage tacked on to Strike's comment. "I'm FireStorm. That dress will go up in flames when I'm done with ya," FireStorm announced.  
  
"Well, if I recall from this human's memories, yes I did take my form from this 'game' that you named. Some idiot male human named Colin was playing it as Jessica watched. But I tell you that I am twice as deadly as she was ever," Eve said.  
  
"And why is that, Unoriginal Eve who stole Jessica's body?" Strike mocked. Eve raised up her hand, and it turned into a shotgun. Section 32's faces dropped into seriousness.  
  
"Because I have the power of transformation on my side. This crystal is quite useful. Oh, and I hope you keep staring at my chest boy, because it's the last thing you will ever see," Eve mocked.  
  
"The crystal of transformation?" the three said at once.  
  
"Yes, some elemental crystal which I can see that you are all familiar with. You carry the same thing within you. But I control it now; it's my crystal. The crystal of disease,"  
  
"So Eve, what's your plot? World domination? Kill us and take our crystals and powers? All villains have some sort of plot that they love to spill before they attempt to kill the hero, what's yours?" Strike asked as he unsheathed his CyberSword.  
  
"Well, since you put it so nicely, girls deserve more than what they have. Men have oppressed them for years. Now personally I hate humans," she said as she walked over to her fleet of girls, "I can't stand how they act, or how they look, or how they wish to understand the world perfectly. Can you humans let a thing go? You have studied viruses for so long that you consider yourselves an expert on them. Are you an expert on me, CyberStrike? How about you FireStorm? I didn't think so. I'll show humans what a simplistic virus truly is capable of. And I'll help out the women of this world get their rights and lead men around like queens. And I shall be the queen of the world, the Mistress of Disease that all shall bow before!"  
  
"You have some pretty big expectations there Eve. I don't think you'll find that any of them can be accomplished as easily as you think." Strike said.  
  
"Oh really CyberStrike? Well if I can't persuade you to see my vision, maybe some of my close associates can. You know them better than I do, and I'm sure you can come to some mutual agreement with them to surrender your powers over to us. Or, you can die by their hands, of course," Eve said. She snapped her fingers and the girls in back of her parted to the sides of the hall.  
  
From down the path that was created in between the girls, three figures walked. They wore armors of metal, and they were all very pale. PowerCharge whipped her energy whip into the air and make a large snapping sound as she laughed at Mirage; CyberSlash shot her Command.com pistol into the air and hissed at Strike, baring her fangs; and Shockwave, with her long yellow hair and Spear of Electricity, looked to FireStorm and pointed her spear at him. They looked like their good friends, except they were all very pale. They had dark rings around their eyes, and the three girls looked very gaunt and almost dead. The disease had really taken its controlling toll on them. The three hissed at the boys and bared their new fangs at them menacingly as they got into an offensive position.  
  
"They are so cute, and so deadly. Don't you agree?" Eve asked.  
  
"My God, what has she done to them? Our friends!" Smink said as he looked at the three.  
  
"Slash, snap out of it! Come on girl, you're better than that! I don't want to hurt you like this..." Strike said to her.  
  
"Charge, you better not whip me with that..." Mirage said as he raised up his sniper rifle.  
  
"CyberSlash, would you be so kind as to eradicate these pesky men and remove their crystals from their lifeless bodies? It would help us in our revolution," Eve said as she crossed her hands behind her back.  
  
"It would be my pleasure Mistress Eve," Slash said as she bowed to her. "Section 32, attack!" The three girls rushed forward with blinding speed towards the men, raising their weapons and ready to fight.  
  
"Section 32, we have no choice, attack!" Strike commanded. He jumped into the air and brought his katana down in a downward slash against CyberSlash, FireStorm let his flamethrower fire at ShockWave, and mirage vanished into thin air, preparing his attack and striking at the right time against Charge.  
  
"I have better things to do than to watch this slaughter. Come my minions, our second priority becomes our first!" Eve said. She, and her fleet of girls, walked down the east steps to the floors below.  
  
Slash blocked Strike's swing with a shield of energy and she pointed her Command.com pistol at his head. He moved aside quickly and the green bolt shot through the skylight that extended the entire hall. He cut across, slashing across her chest plate and making a large scratch against the armor. The two fell down from their aerial combat and sized each other up.  
  
"Slash, fight it!" Strike commanded to his colleague. Her eyes flashed between gray and neon green for a second, and she almost looked like she was in pain.  
  
"Trying... not... fight..." she spit out like she was in pain. Her arm shook as she raised it up and pointed her gun at him. "Say goodnight Strike. Automatic fury!" she said in a cold tone. She fired, and the pistol went into automatic, spraying green bursts of energy forwards to Strike.  
  
Strike pulled an impressive display of defense, using his sword to deflect the oncoming energy bullets into the walls and glass above, but how long could he keep this up?  
  
ShockWave ran stupidly into FireStorm's wave of flames, catching the blunt of the attack. "Ahhh! Smink don't!!" she pleaded, falling to the ground and smoking.  
  
"What am I doing?" FireStorm asked himself. "Bridget, are you all right?" he said as he walked over to her.  
  
"Never felt better. Piercing Lightning!" she cried. The tip of her spear alit with sparks of electricity, and she drove it into the dumbfounded FireStorm. He screamed being electrocuted, and he was thrown back into the wall by the attack.  
  
"Bridget... why..." he said as he held the area of his chest where the attack had hit. His monocle warned him of the damage, and he continued with his fight by dodging bolts of electricity that ShockWave was sending his way.  
  
"Come out, come out, wherever you are. PowerCharge has a present for you, Master of Illusion," the pale PowerCharge sneered.  
  
Mirage appeared down the hall a bit, closer to the solarium that was next to the study hall and the west steps. "Pick an Mirage, any Mirage," he said as he waved his hands in the air. Green energy burst out from him, and five more Mirages appeared out of thin air, all in the same stance, and all ready to fight.  
  
"Why pick one when you can pick all six! That's my motto!" she said as she flung her hands forward. From the metal chutes below the cuffs of her armor, six powerful discs of energy flew forth; ready to slash the real Mirage and all of his illusions to pieces. The discs slammed into the row of Mirages, and went through all of them, shooting out through the glass of the solarium and destroying a couple plants that the biology class was growing for an experiment.  
  
"None of the above Charge!" Mirage said as he appeared out of the air above her. He flying drop-kicked her, sending her to the ground. She flipped around on the floor in pain and hissed at him. As he felt sure of himself, she pulled her whip from her side and flung it forth. It wrapped around his leg, burning a ring around his armor, and she pulled it, sending him crashing to the floor.  
  
Charge got up and jumped into the air and brought out her pink crystal rapier, ready to impale the fallen Mirage.  
  
And as the battle ensued, a shadowy figure looked on, hiding in the study hall room.  
  
"Do those men even stand a chance? Can Section 32 fight against itself and win?" she asked herself in a scared state. "What can I do?" she continued. Nikki looked at them, and she grabbed the chair behind the teacher's desk in a rush of adrenaline.  
  
"Someone's gotta help them, and I guess I'm the only girl left who isn't infected," she said to herself.  
  
Will Mirage become shish kabob on PowerCharge's rapier? Will FireStorm find a different kind of electric attraction to ShockWave? Will Strike keep his guard up against the onslaught of Slash's "Automatic Fury" attack and avoid becoming a slice of Swiss cheese? Can Nikki help our heroes settle the score against the infected half of Section 32?  
  
Find out in the amazing conclusion to Section 32: Special Forces Unit, Episode 1. Coming soon. 


	6. Episode 1:5 White Finale of Hope

Mirage glanced upwards to see Charge's shadow against the light coming in from the skylight in the hallway. His life began to flash before his eyes as he watched it all happen in slow motion before him. There she was, falling on him with her pink rapier. A weapon he thought he would never have to face. His childhood flashed past his vision. She was coming closer. There goes his approach to his teen years. The rapier began to glow; it was getting closer to fresh meat in a can. There go his last years of high school.  
  
She approached, coming a few feet away from his stomach. Then, pieces of something shattered everywhere. They made the light from the skylight glitter in his vision. The rapier fell at his side, without Charge's hand controlling it. Charge's shadow cringed and fell across from him. Time began to flow back to normal and she fell against a wall with a large crash. She was knocked out cold; someone got her in the back of the head with some object.  
  
Nikki, with her long blond hair and stout body ran over to Mirage. He looked dazed, and she was concerned about his health. "Mr. Mirage! Mirage! Get up Mirage, please and help your friends!" she cried as she shook him. Mirage came about, finally seeing reality for what it was, and he looked into her eyes. She took his black- gloved hand and helped him up off the floor.  
  
"I owe you my life," he said as he got up from the floor.  
  
The roar of the battle came back to his ears. He turned to find his friends in mortal combat with one another. "You, girl, punch out Charge if she stirs. Just hit her face, it's exposed in the suit. He said before rushing off to the battle.  
  
Nikki looked over to Charge, and she began to reach over for her rapier. Nikki took one second to understand the situation and kicked Charge in the head, sending her into a more cold state than before. "Bitch," she said under her breath.  
  
Justin knew Nikki; she was an old classmate of his, Colin's, and Smink's. But, he wasn't going to say anything that could maybe relate to her that he knew her from somewhere. Almost like he wanted to get down on his knees and thank her, although he never saw her saving his life. Then again, there are other people in the world he'd rather not have save his life. There are much worse people...  
  
Strike deflected another blast of Automatic Fury and his arms began to get tired. His sword was moving slower and slower, and some bursts of green energy were beginning to get through and crash into his armor, sending sparks everywhere. He gritted his teeth and licked the blood coming off the side of his mouth and kept his defense up.  
  
A cocking sound could be heard and Slash's eyes glanced over to Strike's side. Strike had no clue what she was looking at, but it must have been important. Her hand began to sweep over to his left, and that's when a large bang occurred. A small, bullet like, blast of energy rang out and shot across from behind him and to his left. The small bullet slammed into Slash's pistol and a small explosion ensued with sparks from the gun going everywhere. The pistol flew from her hand, and skittered down the middle of the hall, far from her grasp.  
  
"Damn you Mirage!" she shouted, turning to run for her weapon. Her green hair flew back as she turned and ran, and Strike put his sword into an offensive position.  
  
"Not this time Slash. Not this time," Mirage said. He moved his sight over and aimed against her back. He pulled the trigger with regret, and his sniper rifle fired again. The bullet of energy shot down the hallway, and slammed into her back. Her armor took the blast and scorched a little bit, and she fell face first onto the marble floor.  
  
"I'm sorry Slash!" Strike cried as he ran down the hall.  
  
He jumped upwards and turned his sword from the bladed edge to the hilt end. He came down upon her like a bird to its prey, and he smacked her in the back of her head with his hilt. Her head fell to the floor, and she was knocked out. Her green visor flickered, and then went off.  
  
"One more person Mirage!" Strike called back to his friend. Mirage nodded and ran up with Strike and together they rushed ShockWave.  
  
FireStorm was pinned up against the wall and squirming to get away, but it was like ShockWave had him pinned in on all sides. She held up her spear, the tip sparking with electricity, getting it close to his head. "One more move FireStorm, and we get to have a flash and a bang. And when it's over, you won't have a head anymore," she sadistically laughed.  
  
A tap came on her shoulders, and she turned around. Standing behind her were Mirage and Strike, both with their fists drawn back. "Light's out," they both said, and their fists lunged forward with blinding speed. Their shots hit her in the face, caused a major nosebleed, and her head shot back from the blow. She looked at them once more, raised her hand up and felt the blood pouring from her nose, and then fell to the ground in a delayed reaction to the punches.  
  
"Man, she has a hard head," Strike said, undoing his fist and shaking his hand around a bit. "You OK Storm?" he asked him.  
  
"Yeah, fine. It's just, well, you punched out my girlfriend man," Storm said, going to her side.  
  
"Well, she ain't your girlfriend now. That is some sadistic bitch that tried to kill you, not your girlfriend," Mirage commented, crossing his arms.  
  
"OK, well, what are we going to do about Eve and her little legion of minions running around the school? And what are we going to do about our friends?" Storm said. A cough came from behind them, and they turned around to find Nikki standing in the middle of the hallway.  
  
"Oh, um, she saved me. If anyone cares," Mirage said, pointing to Nikki. Strike looked to Storm, and then back to Mirage, who looked to the other two.  
  
"Well, um, good work ma'am," Strike said, bringing about a bit of applause.  
  
"I'm not here for your dumb comments. I want to know what's going on!" she demanded of them. She walked forwards and looked Strike in the eye as she reached him.  
  
"Well, we don't really know either. Some Eve woman is running around and taking control of all the females in this school. It would be bad if she got.... Outside.... Shit!" Strike called. The three looked at one another in shock and ran to the steps.  
  
"Wait! I overheard Eve's plan, if that is everything that's going on here!" Nikki called to them. The three stopped and then turned back around to Nikki.  
  
"You heard her plan? And by the way, why aren't you infected, I just realized that!" Storm said.  
  
"It's a long story..." Nikki began.  
  
  
  
I faked the sickness in order to find out why all the girls were going nuts. I fell in with their ranks by using my makeup kit and faking the rings around their eyes and their paleness. I found Eve, and, I fell into her ranks. It wasn't a hard plan. Eve said to us that she knew where Section 32's base was. I wanted to gasp and punch her out, but I'm not strong enough for that. I went along with looking around the school, because she was convinced that it was somewhere here. I guess your friends told out that information after they were infected. But, after a while, she began to suspect me...  
  
"You, what is it I sense about you?" Eve said as she approached Nikki. The girls were down on the first floor hallway, looking around all the rooms for secret switches, and checking all the nooks and crannies in the high school. Nikki was checking out the trophy case as Eve came over.  
  
"I think it is nothing, my mistress..." Nikki replied to her, trying to act as brain dead as the other girls. Eve leaned over and began to sniff Nicole over. And then, she stopped. Nikki took a couple steps back in fear, and began to run away, figuring that she was found out. Eve swiped her hand forwards and it stretched to the perfect length to grab Nikki and pull her back.  
  
"What do I have here, in my grasp? A pathetic spy? Humph. No one can escape my disease once they have been tainted," she said. Then, Eve politely coughed on Nikki, right in her face. Some of her black spit hit her in the face, and she tried not to breathe in the disease. But, she figured that she did, because she couldn't keep holding her breath forever.  
  
"Mistress! Section 32 is here somewhere! What should we do?" a girl said, running down from the steps and into the first floor hallway.  
  
Eve dropped Nikki down and looked at her. "We'll be meeting again, and this time, you'll be under my control," Eve threatened. She turned, and walked up the steps, her dress flowing behind her. Nikki turned and ran up the opposite steps...  
  
I was scared that I would become one of them, so I hid up in the study hall for a while. I heard the fight, and saw you guys losing. So, I grabbed a chair, and did what I could to help Mirage...  
  
  
  
"OK, now I understand. But, shouldn't you actually be under her control by now? That crap spreads like wildfire," Storm said to her in a serious voice.  
  
"I know, but I'm still not sick. I don't know why. This is all so confusing!" she said, falling to her knees. A tear fell from her cheek and she looked back up to the men. "I feel so alone, and so neglected. I almost feel like an outsider. It's been hard lately, I've been having dreams," Nikki began.  
  
"What sort of dreams?" Strike interrupted her, coming closer and kneeling down next to her.  
  
"Um... Well... There's like a mall, and I'm in it. And then, there's this huge bang, and an explosion, and this shadowy monster. And then, everything goes white, and I find myself ripping out its heart, and there's blood everywhere... It's so scary... And then, the blood vanishes, and I'm in a hospital, and grown up. And, I'm a doctor, who helps people, and that's the good part. And then, everything goes black again, and I see this fire, this eternal fire, and another shadowy figure. And there are people all around me, with tools, and they are like, working on me, and there's all this pain and torment. Then I wake up,"  
  
"I wonder. Nicole, I have an idea," Strike said.  
  
"How did you know my name?"  
  
"Never mind that, just trust me on this one, will you?"  
  
"OK, I'll have hope,"  
  
"Trust me, I think you have hope. A hope that you never thought you ever had," Strike said in an enigmatic tone. Nicole looked at him weirdly, and she sat there, placid, waiting for Strike to instruct her.  
  
"Strike, what are you doing man?" Mirage asked in a panic.  
  
"It will be OK, trust me. We might have the edge now," Strike shot back. Mirage backed off and waited, watching Strike. Strike raised his hand up into the air and put it in front of Nicole's face.  
  
"Search and connect," Strike said. His suit beeped, and a green wave of energy projected from his hand and flowed around Nikki like a force field. She didn't move, and she just watched him.  
  
"Connection found," his suit displayed on his monocle.  
  
"Connect at port 121. Call command.com,"  
  
"Calling... Please wait... Connected. Input command?" his suit replied on his monocle.  
  
"Execute boot up sequence," he said. His suit beeped, and the green wave stopped, and Nikki was left sitting there. "Now Nicole, say the first thing that comes to your mind," Strike said.  
  
"White light... All around me... Holy light..." she murmured, delirious. She began to breathe heavy and she looked all around in a panic. "Yes, I can do it. I CAN DO IT! HOPE FUSE!!" she shouted. Strike got up and ran backwards as Nicole rose from the ground and looked to the sky.  
  
"No way!" Mirage and Storm said as white energy began to shoot down the hall. White energy curled around her body and lifted her from the ground, her head back and her hair going everywhere. Slowly, the energy began to take the form of armor, and she attempted to struggle a bit, and she screamed in pain of what was happening.  
  
"Strike, is she all right!" Storm asked.  
  
"She's fine. The crystal is awakening, and that's the reason she's in pain. She's never felt it before. We accepted our crystals because we saw them coming at us to fuse with us; she didn't know what she carried. She'll become immune to the heat and power of the white energy, as we all have after the first time we transformed," Strike said, continually watching.  
  
Nikki's crystal could be visibly seen inside her chest, because it was glowing with such an intense light that it penetrated her skin. The white metal of her armor ran up her arms and legs, forming into her suit. From her back, two great white metal wings exploded outwards and folded back mechanically to her back. The energy formed her chest plate, and it wove around her head to create her heads up display. The energy shot down her throat last, and she screamed at this for as long as she could, because she never exactly felt energy go into her body before. Her hair grew in length visibly and turned golden, and radiated a golden light. Her eyes turned to a bright silver color, and also radiated light.  
  
Soon the energy died down and she came back down to the ground slowly. Her white boots touched the marble floor, and she settled down comfortably and stood before her friends. Her suit was made from a bright white metal and had a silver trim color for the Kevlar under-suit. Her gloves were black, like the others, and her white boots were a bit smaller than the men's and she had metal hi-heeled boots. Across her white chest plate, there was a bright red cross, like a doctor's station would have. Her mechanical white wings flexed a bit before coming to a rest in a stored position on her back.  
  
She put her hand out instinctively and a beam of sunlight concentrated down through the skylight. It concentrated into a huge staff of sunlight, and then formed into a smaller golden metal staff, with a silver cross atop of it. She held the staff in her right hand, and she let it touch the floor with a metallic clink. She stood in front of the men, standing proudly and magnificently.  
  
"Whoa," all three of them commented at once as they looked at her. Then, she faltered, and began to fall forward from exhaustion. Strike leaped forwards and caught her, preventing her from falling.  
  
"Thank you Strike, I'm just so tired," she said to him. "What happened to me? Why am I like you?" she asked.  
  
"After you told me your dream, I knew you had to possess a crystal of the elements. The question was, which one did you have? Since you have deterred the disease of Eve, it could only be one element, because only one can withstand disease. That would be the Crystal of Hope, and you carry that crystal within your chest, believe it or not. It is fused with your body, and it added on codes to your DNA, mutating it a bit. It gave you this suit of metal. What else it does, we don't really know, but it is the source of our powers. You're one of us Nicole," Strike said. The other two came forwards and helped her to her feet.  
  
"One of us, one of us..." Mirage chanted in a monotone tone as a joke. Nikki laughed at it and she stood upwards.  
  
"I feel a bit better now. I guess I'm recovering from the shock. Who are you all anyway?" she asked.  
  
"You already know us," Mirage began, "It's me, Justin. Strike over there is Colin, and Smink is Storm," he said with a smile.  
  
"You guys? You guys are Section 32? What about the women?" Nikki asked in shock, putting one of her hands up to her mouth.  
  
"Slash is Kristen, Charge is Lauren, Shock is Bridget," Strike finished for Mirage.  
  
"You mean, all of us, being old classmates, are Section 32?" Nikki said.  
  
"It seems so, doesn't it? Dunno why, but that's how it is," Storm commented.  
  
"Now what are we going to do about the girls?" Mirage said, putting a hand to his head in wonderment. They all turned to look at the KO'ed girls and they all wondered a bit as they looked at their wounds and the blood on their faces.  
  
"I think I have an idea, I don't know how I know this, but I do," Nikki said. She walked over to Charge, and she put her hands on Charge's suit. Her hands began to glow a bright white color, and a shock of white energy pulsed into Charge's suit. It rolled across her like a wave, and then disappeared as it covered everything. Slowly, Charge's bruises vanished and her face became normal again. She was no longer pale and she no longer had fangs. Nikki raised her head up from the floor, and put her up against the wall. "Charge, get up..." Nikki said softly.  
  
"Ugh... What happened?" Charge said as she slowly opened her pink eyes and looked around.  
  
"She's all right!" Mirage said happily.  
  
"Who are you?" Charge said as she looked at Nikki.  
  
"I guess you can call me Medic. I'm the new girl on the team," Medic said as she held out her hand and shook Charge's hand.  
  
"It's just Nikki, Lauren. Nothing special," Storm commented with a chuckle.  
  
"Nikki? You have a crystal too! That's awesome! I remember now! We suspect Jessica is behind this! Now we kick Jessica's butt!" Charge said. She got up excitedly and grabbed her rapier. She sheathed it in the sheath on her left side and she looked to everyone else.  
  
"Well, this one might take a bit to explain," Storm said, putting his hand on the back of his head in a form of embarrassment.  
  
A few minutes later...  
  
ShockWave and CyberSlash were back on their feet and no longer infected, thanks to Medic's quick fingers. The gang was huddled in the middle of the hall, trying to flesh out a plan to use against Eve.  
  
"So, Eve is Jessica being controlled by a virus, and she used that virus to control us to attack you guys? Why don't I remember this?" Shock asked.  
  
"Well, I'm guessing because the disease had such an adverse affect on your mind. We must take into account that it was able to harness the different aspects of your brain in order to control you, of course. That when it finally was healed out that..." Priest began to ramble.  
  
"OK, OK, she lost her memory, that's great, what are we gonna do?" Mirage said, pushing for action.  
  
"I have a plan people. And it should, by theory, work. OK, here's what I want. Nikki, Kristen, Lauren, and Bridget," Strike said as he pointed at Medic, CyberSlash, PowerCharge, and ShockWave respectfully, "go to the Band Room in a team. I want you girls to get..."  
  
Meanwhile, out in the courtyard:  
  
"I fall asleep for two seconds in Bakenbrager's class, and this is what I get?" Fred proclaimed.  
  
"Well, at least they haven't hung us over a burning bonfire yet. It could always get worse," Mike replied.  
  
The two members of Section 32 were hanging from one of the trees in the courtyard by a thick, slimy, disgusting black rope that went around their midsection and restrained their hands. Below them, part of Eve's legion were parading around them in some sort of a tribal dance, all hooting and hollering around their capture.  
  
"I'm trying to reach my watch, but I can't get my hand around to hit the button to set it to communications mode," Mike whispered as he struggled. Fred sighed and looked around. He really could think of millions of other places he would rather be, which included: (but weren't limited to) sitting in the city dump with no clothing on, trying to fit into a telephone booth with fifteen other men, or being forced to attend a Stevie Wonder concert.  
  
Just as he got to the hundredth place he would rather be (Which was a Pokémon convention, by the way) the hooting and hollering below him stopped and he looked down as Mike continued to fidget. All the girls had gotten down on the ground in a prayer motion and were simultaneously bowing to the side door, where Eve had just emerged.  
  
In her hands was a large man, also restrained by the same black rope our heroes were. He had gray hair on the sides of his head, and he was balding up top. Very muscular, tall, and obviously strong, he was kicking and trying to get out of Eve's powerful grasp with all of his might. But, sadly, he was not successful. Eve threw Mr. Larsen, one of the history teachers, up into the tree to hang with the two restrained members of Section 32.  
  
"How you guys doing?" he asked casually, looking at his two students.  
  
"You said something derogative about females again, didn't you Mr. Larsen?" Mike asked in a monotone expression.  
  
"Yeah, and the black rat over there got me!" he yelled over to Eve. He spat at her feet to draw her attention away from one of her captains.  
  
"Oh Mr. Larsen, if you wanted to challenge me to a spitting contest, you could have just asked!" Eve exclaimed, turning her attention to the teacher. She turned her head and spat on one of the flowerbeds in the courtyard, which quickly began to smoke and die from the toxins in her spit. She smiled, baring her fangs at Larsen in an evil grin. "Never make fun of a woman Mr. Larsen, you don't know what sort of powers they contain," she said with a wink.  
  
"That's it, I want to ring her neck out," Larsen groaned aloud to Fred and Mike. The three men continued to hang from the tree, and they fell into silence. They lost all interest in talking about their predicament, and anything else they could think of.  
  
"Well, I have two male chauvinist pigs, and their swine leader. That's good enough for me. I think it's time we made some bacon girls! Hah hah ha!" Eve laughed aloud after a couple minutes. All the girls in Eve's Legion began to laugh with her as they closed around the tree where the three were strung.  
  
"I believe it to be lights out guys. It was nice knowing you, and always remember what Custard said at his Last Stand," Mr. Larsen said as he looked upon his doom.  
  
"What was that?" Fred asked.  
  
"Holy shit, where did all these Indians come from?" Larsen replied.  
  
A synthesizer riff rocked through the courtyard, forcing all the girls to put their hands over their ears and hiss from the frequency of the noise. Eve turned around, unaffected, and looked up atop the school, and her look of happiness spiraled down into a look of horror. "How the hell..." Eve spoke, her black lips trembling as she looked. Standing atop the school were CyberSlash, PowerCharge, CyberStrike, Medic, and ShockWave.  
  
CyberSlash let another synthesizer riff blast off, and Medic stepped up to the edge of the roof and took a deep breath of air before putting the microphone connected to her metal headband down to her mouth. "Here I go... Here I go... Here I go..." she chanted.  
  
The area around them began to turn dark, and the members of Section 32 lit up like beacons with their patron colors around them in brilliant auras. Pink for PowerCharge, neon green for Strike and Slash, and yellow for ShockWave. They were all drawing in energy from the space around them, and channeling it towards Medic, who was radiating out with a bright white light. CyberStrike began to hit the hi-hat to his left on the drum set to count time, and the song began as the members raised up their instruments, a clarinet for Shock, a flute for Charge, Slash and her wrist synthesizer, and Strike on the drums.  
  
"Ooooooh yeah!!!!" Medic shouted. Strike inserted a drum fill using the drum set he had grabbed from the band room with the aid of his friends and dragged to the roof. The girls looked up in fear and awe, and Eve stood down there, also in a trance, but slowly curling her hand in anger of watching her plans fall apart.  
  
"What!! What kind of magic is this!! Who... What!!!" she screamed. The girls snapped from their trance and began to rush at Section 32 to protect their leader, who was on top of the three-story school. And, in response, Medic sang and let her white energy radiate out upon the area.  
  
"Hush just stop.  
  
There's nothing you can do or say. Baby... I've had enough. I'm not your property I hate to say. Baby... You, might, think that I won't make it...on my own.  
  
But now I'm stronger than yesterday! Now is nothin' but a mile away! My loneliness ain't killin' me no more!  
  
I...I... Stronger!!" she sung. Britney Spears probably would have a heart attack at hearing her song sung by someone else, but its effect was plenty noticeable.  
  
As Medic sung Stronger, the legion of girls began to slowly halt their charge. The white energy wove around them, and slowly, their gaunt appearance began to fade. Then, they stopped charging all together, and just stood in a huge mass in the courtyard, all dumbfounded.  
  
Then one girl's leg began to twitch. Another began to raise her hand and snap her fingers to the beat. Slowly but surely, to Eve's horror, Medic's healing tune was shattering her disease control over them. Soon, the girls were back to their normal selves, and all wondering why they were in the courtyard listening to Section 32.  
  
"Run, run away from Eve quickly!!" Slash shouted over the music. One of the girls turned her head, pointed her finger at Eve, and the rest of them got the picture. The stampede ran out of the box shaped courtyard, and down the driveway that curved around the eastern edge of the U shaped school.  
  
Eve stood there, pissed off to all hell. She wasn't affected by the music in anyway, because she was making sure to not only tune it out, but it couldn't heal the disease that was smart enough to take over a person's body. "You still haven't won Section 32! I still have three men as hostages! What are you going to do about that!" she yelled up to them.  
  
Section 32 stopped their music and they all began to laugh. "Look behind you, Mistress of Disease," Medic mocked. Eve spun around and she screamed at the sight she saw. Mr. Larsen, Mike, and Fred were running into the school through the other doors on the other side of the "U" shape of the school with Mirage and FireStorm behind them. It seemed that Storm had cut them out with one of his crystal tipped arrows, which he left behind in the tree as a present for Eve. Before Mirage fully ducked inside the doors, he made sure to turn around and flip Eve off and laugh at her.  
  
Eve looked back up to Section 32. "I'm not finished yet! You still cannot stop me! I am the Mistress of Disease! The controller of the Crystal of Transformation! I cannot lose!" she screamed in a fit. A pair of black, rotting, bat wings burst forth from her back in her anger. She snarled and leapt upwards at the group, aiming for Medic. She flapped her black wings in anger, propelling herself at top speed at the newest member.  
  
Medic took a step backwards, not expecting Eve to find some way to get up to the roof that easily and quickly. She didn't have a backup plan, but Slash did. CyberSlash put her hand out and pointed it at Eve, and in response her pistol flew to her hand and charged up a quick shot as she aimed at the black demon flying at her friend.  
  
*BANG*! She fired a quick green bolt at the monster. The energy blast flew through the air at Eve, but Eve was quicker. In a flash of black, she moved one of her hands in the way of the blast and deflected the energy bullet. The blast went careening off in another direction, and exploded in the sky in a brilliant green wave. Eve landed on the roof and curled two of her fingers around Medic's metal collar that was protecting her throat. Medic began to choke as Eve lifted her up off the ground so she could look eye to eye with her adversary.  
  
"You ruined me and my plans. Now I will ruin you, pathetic human," Eve snarled at Medic. Medic struggled, and tried to beat Eve off with her staff, but Eve wasn't responding to the weak blows.  
  
A flash of silver and a green slash flew across Eve's arm. CyberStrike stopped a little ways away from Eve, and sheathed his sword. As he sheathed it, red blood began to pour from the gash he left across the back of her hand and part of her black arm. Eve screamed and dropped Medic by accident. She landed on her feet and backflipped away from the demon of disease. She put her staff out in a defensive stance, and looked onwards to the battle.  
  
"Strike, don't kill her! Remember whose body it is!" Slash yelled at her partner. Strike cringed. To him, this just got a lot harder. He wasn't good at keeping people alive.  
  
"I want to get her," Medic said, stepping up across from Eve.  
  
"Medic, what the heck are you doing?" Slash yelled at her.  
  
"Don't be a hero!" Charge yelled, drawing up her rapier and putting her flute in her belt holder.  
  
FireStorm and Mirage opened the door to the roof and peeked out to see the battle and what was going on. Behind them were two other guys. One had flat blue hair that stuck out over his metal headband. He had a see-through blue energy visor over his blue eyes and his suit was a brilliant silver color with a neon blue Kevlar suit underneath. Across his back was the sheath for a huge lance that he used in combat. On his chest plate was a glowing replica of a clock with its hands pointing to midnight. On his left shoulder, as held true with Strike, Slash, Charge, Wave, Storm, and Mirage, he had the golden Section 32 badge fused into the metal. Mike strutted out as ChronoTwist onto the rooftop and stood next to Strike.  
  
Behind him followed another guy with a silvery brown suit with a deep orange trim color for his undersuit. He was a very strong man, carrying a wooden spear with metal reinforced areas and an orange crystal tip. His short brown hair was matted down to his head and sorted of made his brownish silver headband blend in. He had a jagged brown energy monocle over his right eye that he occasionally glanced over to. His brown metal boots were larger than the other's suits, for the reason that he needed the extra balance when dealing with earth. Fred strutted over to the group as EarthQuake, with his spear ready to do battle with Eve. Behind Quake followed Storm and Mirage.  
  
The alliance of Section 32 stood a bit behind Medic, who had now pointed her golden staff at the dark monster Eve. Eve growled a little as she breathed in and out in deep breaths, trying to regain her composure to continue with the fight as best she could. She stared into Medic's silver eyes with her gray ones, radiating all the hatred and fury that she could muster at Medic, trying to make her doubt that she should take on Eve one on one. Medic didn't blink, she stood there, staring back with all the hatred she could muster. The two stood deadlocked in a dramatic staring contest, waiting for the other to make the first move on top of the old school.  
  
"We won't interfere Medic. We know you can do it. You have the powers that will do the job properly without accidentally killing Jessica. We have faith in you, just make it quick," Slash said to her in a kind tone. She put her gun back to her hip, and it magnetically attached. Strike sheathed his sword, and the other warriors began to do the same with their weapons, showing respect to their newest member.  
  
"You don't have faith in me. You have hope in me," Medic said, smiling a smile at Eve and continuing to stare forward.  
  
"Do it Medic, do it," ShockWave said to her. PowerCharge smiled and began to stomp her hi-heeled metal boot twice and then clap. The other girls began to do the same with their hi-heeled boots and black-gloved hands. And then the men began to do the same. The background tune to "We Will Rock You" made all other sounds go away. Medic smiled, knowing her friends were behind her all the way.  
  
Medic dashed forwards, using her wings to propel herself faster than before. She caught Eve off guard and plowed into her and spiraled upwards. Medic swung her golden staff this way in that, hitting Eve as the two flew straight up into the air, locked into a one sided aerial combat.  
  
Then, making her first move of the battle, Eve blocked one of Medic's blows to her face and reacted with a punch to Medic's gut. Some spit flew from Medic's mouth from the pain, and the shock of being caught off guard. Eve continued in her pummel with her claws, trying to claw at the Kevlar and exposed parts of Medic.  
  
The eight remaining members that were standing on the rooftop watched the battle in awe. They could see the power radiating off of the two through their colored monocles and visors, and they couldn't do or say anything but stare at the spectacle in the great blue cloudless sky.  
  
"Why should humans deserve to live on this planet? They are nothing but a menace to everything around them!" Eve commented as the two threw punches and slashes and blocks and dodges.  
  
"And give me a reason viruses should live on this planet. Humans have proven themselves to learn from their mistakes numerous times. I have never seen a virus learn from their mistakes. Tell me Eve, what have you learned? What have you learned from taking a human's body and becoming what you hate the most? Tell me!" Medic asked in fury.  
  
Eve stood dumbfounded. She thought about the question that was presented to her in a passion that she never thought of before. She had calculated this plan all out so well, and one human had stopped her. What had she learned? Why had she become her own enemy? She looked at her hands in shock; she was what she hated.  
  
"That's what I thought," Medic said. She took her staff back into an overhead motion, and she slammed it downwards with all her might. Golden energy radiated off in a great shockwave from that single blow as the golden cross made contact with Eve's head, and the dark monster propelled downwards towards the empty school.  
  
Medic held her staff outward and concentrated. Golden energy began to draw in all around her for everyone in the world to see. Time itself seemed to stop as she drew in this mystical energy, not knowing what she was about to do, but knowing it would end the horror Jessica was feeling. Section 32 looked onwards, was this the final blow?  
  
Medic brought her staff upwards and pointed it to the sky with both of her hands. Her long golden hair flew about her in the rage of wind that was twisting and tossing around her from the energy. The cross glowed so brightly that it hurt the eyes of those who viewed it. Eve looked up, one last time, and knew what was about to befall her. This was her greatest fear. This was the special attack of the Crystal of Hope.  
  
"Darkness Destruction!!!!" Medic screamed. She brought her staff downwards and pointed it at Eve, still falling to the roof. From the blue sky, a great beam of white light began to gather around Eve. It encased her, and her shadow could be seen inside the white light. Energy shockwaved outwards from her limp body, and a final, piercing, horrible scream could be heard. A black soul flew out from the great white light, screaming towards Medic in fury. But, it dissipated in the air, turning into black energy that exploded outwards in multiple black sparks and one last ring of black energy. The light began to fade. The black and pale body of Parasite Eve, the Mistress of Disease, fell to the roof slowly. It was over. The game was won.  
  
Medic began to fall. She was tired. She looked upwards as everything spun around her. The sky. The black roof of the school... Her friends screaming... It was all fading to black... Then, she stopped... And as she felt that feeling of security, everything went totally black and silent.  
  
6:27 PM, Pottsville Area High School: the rooftop  
  
Medic slowly opened up her eyes to see who was nudging her. Her silver eyes viewed a black outline of a tall woman over her. "Hey, hey... Are you all right Medic? Guys, she's awake!!" the outline yelled. Medic opened her eyes more fully to see who was calling. Eve was standing over her body that was laid out across the roof. She seemed worried about her condition, and her normally cold gray eyes actually had worry and pity in them. Eve pushed back some of her black air from her face with her large black clawed black hands, and Medic could hear footsteps rushing towards her.  
  
"Oh thank God you're awake!" Slash said as she looked at her. The nine of them stood around Medic, all saying their relief sayings and generally being overall happy. Eve helped Medic up, and Nikki leaned on her staff for some more support.  
  
"You, I thought... I thought you were dead?" Medic said to Eve. Eve shook her head in response.  
  
"Eve's dead Medic. I'm alive. I'm Jessica, the person Eve took over. I'm so sorry for all the trouble my body has caused... And this dress is horrible, by the way, it's so revealing!" Jessica said with a small and polite laugh.  
  
Medic smiled. "I'm glad I can help. I'm guessing that you're gonna join up with us then if you have these powers," Medic stated. "Because, I think you could get along will all of us quite well."  
  
"Huh? Why?" Jessica asked. Strike looked at Slash, who looked at Charge, who looked at Storm, who looked at Quake, who looked at Mirage, who looked at Wave, who looked to Twist, who looked to Medic, who looked to Strike again.  
  
"Well, we might as well show her, she's gonna join with us if she likes it or not," Strike said, shrugging his metal shoulders. They all went down to their wrists, and hit the special buttons on their watches. Their patron energies poured over them, and then vanished, leaving them as normal and without their suits.  
  
"Colin? Kristen? Lauren? Smink? Fred? Mike? Bridget? Justin? NIKKI'S MEDIC???" Jessica said, putting her clawed hand to her head in confusion. "You guys and gals are Section 32?"  
  
"Yeah, we know. Good, aren't we? So, are you going to join up?" Kristen asked as she extended her hand.  
  
"Wait, I have to get this transformation thing down. I think I know how Eve did it, but for some... reason... I can't get to any other form other than this one... She said that I could transform into anything she wanted..." Jessica said as she struggled to change to something else for a test run.  
  
"I wonder if this is Eve's legacy? What if you can't even change back to your normal self?" Fred wondered aloud. Jessica concentrated one more time, and the dress began to disappear, her skin began to change back to a normal color, her arms shrank back up to what they should have been, her hands looked like they were deflating. She shifted back to her normal size, and her normal clothing. She opened her blue eyes and smiled.  
  
"Well, I can get back to my normal form. Count me in, I wanna have fun with these powers!" Jessica said, shaking Kristen's hand. The others extended their hands in response, and she went around, shaking the hands of her old time friends.  
  
"Thirteen members now Colin, can you believe how many we have picked up since the beginning?" Smink said.  
  
"Well all I can say to that is Jessica and Nikki, welcome to Section 32."  
  
  
  
As the sun sets on our heroes, they have accomplished their first major mission, and picked up two new and very useful allies. But what awaits them now in the getting stranger City of Pottsville? What vile evil is lurking its head around the corner? What is Commander Darkblade cooking up back at Area 51 to reclaim his war suits? Find out in the next episode of Section 32.  
  
Episode 2: Playing With Half a Deck  
  
Hey guys, it's me, Smink! He he he he he! Well, in the next session of episode 2, Colin, Jessica, Nikki and I are going on an adventure to Sharp Mountain with the Pottsville Police! Sharp Mountain is one of the larger hills of Pottsville that's so long that it extends down the entire west side of the city! And up there, some nasty stuff has happened, and that's not even getting into the subsidences that occur from the old mine shafts up there. All those huge craters! The mountain is a magnet for supernatural stories, wild animals, and booze parties, of course.  
  
Now, why are we going up there again? I forgot actually... Colin told me about this trip during lunch, but I can't remember. Sorry... But hey, find out in our next session, it's really Shmoo-The-Cat-alicious!  
  
Smink, you really need to drop those really strange sayings that no one understands...  
  
Be quiet Colin! You can have your turn to talk in:  
  
Episode 2.1: Caught in the Act  
  
Oh, I just can't wait for it. It's so fantastically amazing. Look at my happiness. Yay. 


	7. Mini Shot 1: Dash As Fast As Prancer Pra...

Mini-Shot 1 Dash As Fast As Prancer Prances  
  
Smink hopped down the staircase, moving towards the door like a fox. The doorbell had rang, and he bloody well knew exactly who it was. If he didn't, he wouldn't have moved away from the bed in the PlayStation 2 room to open it, would he?  
  
"Yo Mink, what's up?" Colin politely asked as he walked through the wooden doorframe and removed his jacket, which he hung on the nearest coat hanger on the wall next to him.  
  
"Yeah, well, welcome to my house, now upstairs, quickly!" Smink replied, running back up the steps. All Colin could do in response was shrug and follow. He had no clue what Smink was up to, but it had to be something semi-important. Otherwise, Colin knew Smink wouldn't have expended any energy on it.  
  
The two ran up the staircase to the second floor, and the PlayStation 2 room. This white room with a bed in the middle and a wooden TV cupboard over against the wall containing a TV and the PS2 was the room that they had most frequently inhabited. Andrew was playing "Devil May Cry", his newest game. The Smink sat down and picked back up the controller and became glued to it once more, as Colin sat next to him and sighed. "Is this it?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, this was it. Sorry if you thought it was important," Smink replied without moving his eyes.  
  
"Yeah, well, I should have guessed. It couldn't be as important as Operation Dasher, because nothing is as important as that," Colin said with a smirk. That got Smink's attention quick. His curly blond haired head spun faster than a squirrel noticing an incoming predator. Colin knew that Operation Dasher was the one and only plan for Andrew, Mike, and Heffner, another one of their friends, to get a date for the upcoming Christmas Prom at the High School. They had named it Dasher because of the Christmassy tone of the name, and the race it took to get a date.  
  
"It's not Dasher anymore. It's Prancer. You know we took Dasher out into the back and shot him," he replied with a laugh to Colin's attempt to start conversation.  
  
"Oh, sorry about that. I didn't know we changed the codename. How are things going?" Colin said with a hint of sarcasm in the first sentence.  
  
"Well, it's good. I still gotta ask Nikki," he said. Nikki being the very girl that he hoped would accept his invitation to the prom. The girl was only a freshman, but he wanted to take her anyway.  
  
"Ok. How is it good if you still haven't asked her? Don't you have the guts?" Colin inquired. "NO! I just haven't. haven't seen her yet. that's all," Smink said sheepishly, screwing up at Devil May Cry. Colin's eyebrow shot up in an appraising manner and he laughed at the situation.  
  
"Never fear Smink! You should ask her; she won't put you down! At least you have a date, right?"  
  
"You're right about that. but."  
  
"So? Call her."  
  
"No. I don't know her phone number."  
  
"What's that laying over there on the cupboard that says 'Nikki's Phone Number'?"  
  
"Nothing for you."  
  
"Come on."  
  
"No, peer pressure isn't working."  
  
"I order you to, as your commander."  
  
"Nope. You're not pulling that order shit on me when I'm not in the suit."  
  
Colin sighed. There goes his fun. And he wanted to see how Smink would react too. Down deep, however, Colin knew that Nikki would accept his invitation. There was absolutely no doubt about that. Well, now he needed a backup plan. He personally didn't want to sit there and watch Smink play. "Want to get Bevan and go to Burger King?"  
  
"Eh, sure. I'm hungry for some fat," Smink replied. Colin nodded happily. Well, it was better than being in the house!  
  
  
  
"So, thanks for picking me up," Kyle Bevan said to them as they pulled into the nearby Burger King in Smink's cute little blue compact car.  
  
"Yeah, no problem. Lock your doors children. I don't want the CD player stolen," Smink said, taking off his glasses required for driving and getting out from the car. Smink lead, and Colin and Kyle followed suit.  
  
"You missed it, Kyle. I tried to get him to call Nikki," Colin snickered.  
  
"Bummer. I'm so ashamed. Why won't he call her?" "He's too afraid of being put down, when he isn't."  
  
"But, he was put down like four times before."  
  
"We're not gonna remember those cases. They don't count."  
  
"Right, like your juvenile record doesn't count in court. until the pull it out and reveal it to the jury."  
  
"Hey, hey, we're trying to connect Smink with a date. Not force him away from one."  
  
"What's this about Smink and date?" Smink asked as he opened the door.  
  
"Nothing," both Kyle and Colin said at the same time. They walked past Smink and into Burger King, both with the same innocent looks on their faces.  
  
After about a minute of waiting in line due to the intensely crowded restaurant, the group finally made it close to the counter to order their food. Colin reached into his pocket and fumbled for his wallet, which he conveniently couldn't find. "Go in front Smink, I'll get it," he asked.  
  
Smink shrugged and got in front. Finishing up ordering and going down to pick up his food, his comrades found something more worthy of viewing than the normalcy of the restaurant.  
  
"Do you see what I see?" Colin said, hitting Kyle as he walked up to order.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Four booths over to your left. Pile of girls. Nikki herself in the middle."  
  
"Holy crap! Score!" Kyle laughed. Colin was right. There, sitting in the sunroom of Burger King, munching down on chicken nuggets and fries, was Nikki herself. The perfect opportunity arose before Smink.  
  
Both Colin and Kyle glared at Smink. After being off in la-la land for about a minute, Smink caught their glare and quickly scanned his surroundings, not knowing what was going on. Colin pointed a finger, and Smink followed the point to find Nikki. His eyes went wide and it looked like he was about to collapse against the counter in fright. If this moment wasn't so crucial, it would be funny.  
  
Both Kyle and Colin mouthed the word "Go" to Smink. Smink shook his head wildly in response. They mouthed it again, this time more seriously. This time, Smink took his tray and ran off to a booth far away from the girls. Colin slapped his head and groaned as Kyle got finished ordering. "This is never going to work!"  
  
  
  
Colin and Kyle sat down with Smink at the booth. Smink had his head down, and he had his mouth full with the Chicken Whopper he ordered. Both of his friends glared at him, knowing full well that this technique would get to him eventually.  
  
"Nope, not going. Nope, nope, nope," Smink said, his mouth mostly full and the words coming out like gibberish.  
  
"We decided we're gonna tie you up, duct tape your mouth shut, get a voice changer to sound like you. Then, we're gonna put you in front of Nikki, and use the voice changer to make sure you get a date with her," Kyle hypothesized.  
  
"Not when you can't catch me. I'm going to get a drink." Smink replied, getting up with his empty cup. The two had failed again. Then, a light bulb went on in Colin's mind. He got up with a smart smirk, and followed Andrew to the soda machine. On the other side of that wall was Nikki herself.  
  
Smink was pouring his soda when Colin appeared besides him with his big eyes and funny smirk. "NO, I'M NOT ASKING HER NOW!" Smink yelled back, getting vicious.  
  
"Geez. Heck no, I wasn't gonna rag ya. I'm filling up my soda, thank you very much. Can't a guy do that anymore?" Colin asked, defensively.  
  
"Well. Sorry, I'm on edge," he said. Colin nodded and quickly filled up his soda. He walked away, but stopped as he passed the entrance to the sunroom. "Hey, is that your mom?" Colin asked.  
  
"Huh? Where?" Smink said, following Colin. Seizing the opportunity, Colin drove Smink into the sunroom, and ran out, leaving him standing there in front of Nikki, dumbfounded.  
  
"Oh, hello Andrew," Nikki said to him as she smiled. The other girls looked at one another and left, considering they thought they knew what was about to happen.  
  
"I. I. I.I." Andrew stammered. Nikki looked at him with an odd look, and she looked around at all of her friends leaving.  
  
"Oh, don't mind them. Come on, sit down, I have some stuff to tell you about," she politely asked.  
  
"Not right now." Andrew replied. Colin and Kyle poked their heads into the room, trying to see what was going on.  
  
"Well, you don't want to hear what I have to say, but it looks like you have something to ask me," she said, smirking.  
  
"Oh! NO! No! I would love to hear what you have to tell me! But. bu..but. couldyouliketogowithmetotheprom? I knowyou'rebusyandallbutwouldyouliketogo?" Andrew flung out in one huge breath.  
  
"What?" Nikki responded.  
  
"Oh, God, this is about as unromantic as it gets," Colin said, rolling his eyes. Kyle too the opportunity to snicker about the whole thing.  
  
"I wish I had a camera. This is rich," he said.  
  
"I. was wondering if you would consider going with me to the prom. I know you are busy and all, but please, I'm not forcing this upon you. I'll be ok if you say no. Really. And, it doesn't mean we're going out or anything," Smink said, slowing down his speech.  
  
"Well. I'll think about it," she said, smiling to him. She checked her watch and her eyes went wide. "Oh, shoot! I have to go, sorry Andrew! See you tomorrow!" she said, picking up her stuff and leaving the room. Andrew stood there, hearts in his eyes, and completely in a state of out- there-ness.  
  
Colin and Kyle entered the room, smiling at seeing what happened. "Well there stud muffin, you did a good job," Colin laughed.  
  
"She's going to think about it. Wow." he said, totally out of it.  
  
"Yeah, and you didn't even faint either!" Kyle announced, slapping him on the back. Immediately, Smink's legs turned to jelly and he collapsed onto the ground, letting out a quick, high-pitched laugh after hitting it with a loud thud.  
  
"Um. that's not cool." Colin said, looking down.  
  
It seems Smink has a chance at a date? Is our hero all right? And has he attained a date for the Christmas Prom? Find out in the next episode of, Section 32: Special Forces Unit! 


	8. Episode 2:1 Caught in the Act

Episode 2 - Playing With Half A Deck  
  
Episode 2.1 - Caught in the Act  
  
"So, Rowen, talk to me. What's your excuse? Because I'm in a bad mood and I need something to cheer me up," Sir Shadown muttered as he took the cigar out of his mouth. The smoke of the drug wafted about the room and was uniquely captured in the dim lighting of the Shadow Government's map room. Around the table were seated the 20 generals of the government, and at the opposite end of the table was Commander Rowen Darkblade. Rowen sat there, contemplating something in his mind as Shadown began to verbally slice him open like a fully cooked roast.  
  
"I underestimated them, Sir. I had not anticipated that Strike could find, or would be able to, the XyberSuit of Hope, a.k.a. Medic," Rowen said to his boss, eyes still facing down towards the glistening obsidian table.  
  
"Well, don't underestimate them again Rowen. They have proven to you that they aren't just a bunch of dicknanny halfwits. So don't treat them as such. Now, this time, Darkblade, I don't want to see one flaw in the execution of this mission. When complete, Section 32 should be packed away in Science Bay 6 so tight that not even superman could escape. Now, General Macarthur, brief the commander before I lose my temper," Shadown called to his underling, still remaining in the shadows at the end of the room.  
  
"Right, Sir," General Macarthur said, standing up and nodding to his boss. Macarthur turned to the black business suited Rowen in full attention, and picked up the plans he had before him. "Commander Darkblade, you will be executing the mission entitled CV-W78, codenamed 'Dirty Vegas,'" Macarthur began. General Wythe, who was sitting next to Macarthur, began to chuckle to himself during the reading of the plans.  
  
"What amuses you so, Wythe?" Shadown asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing sir. It's just that the operation is named after a new day techno band, you know. We could come up with more original plan names," Wythe laughed.  
  
"Shut up you fool. I came up with that," Shadown replied.  
  
"Excuse me, sorry sir," Wythe quickly said, his face going neutral faster than the snap of a finger. "Continue, Macarthur,"  
  
"Right. Commander Darkblade, you are to report to the Area 51 mission laboratory. They have a new prototype weapon down there called the 'Insurance Dealer'. The first part of the operation calls for the weapon to be tested upon a group of expendable citizens from Pottsville, preferably in a place that is far from civilization. Suggestions would be the homeless, those who are in extreme debt, or,"  
  
"How about drunks?" Darkblade spoke up.  
  
"Drunks, sir? With all due respect,"  
  
"Pottsville is known for its brewery. And it has one of the highest drinking problems in the country. I have done my research, sir. Some of the students from Pottsville High enjoy taking drinking runs out in many forests in the surrounding community. Maybe, we test the weapon up on Sharp Mountain after finding one of their 'bush parties', and become the party crashers. Does the weapon kill or maim?" Rowen asked.  
  
"Maim, sir."  
  
"Well, we don't someone who's still perfectly conscious! They would recognize that the attack is quite different, and maybe even remember the attacker. Those kids probably drink so hard that they can't walk forward two feet without either puking or falling over! So, why not hit them when they are so mentally out of it that they won't know what the hell happened?"  
  
"Darkblade has a point, Macarthur. Go with his suggestion, I like it," Shadown said, actually sticking up for Rowen.  
  
"Yes, Sir Shadown. Well then, Darkblade, this is your operation, and you know what to do. Now go down to the lab, get the dealer, get a team, and go," Macarthur stated, a bit pissed about being showed up by Rowen.  
  
"As you wish. When I return, I will be carrying Strike over my shoulder, and throw his carcass onto the table before you like the Thanksgiving turkey," Rowen said, leaving the room through the sliding door.  
  
"Yeah, if Rowen can even lift him!" Wythe joked. The generals laughed heartily, as Shadown sat in the back wit his cigar in his mouth, the red cinders glowing the darkness.  
  
  
  
"What are you doing down there, Kristen?" Lauren asked, walking into the main command room and noticing her friend down on the floor. Kristen was lying underneath one of the command consoles that created the circular command area in the middle of the large room. All the consoles were turned off, as was the main screen that usually displayed the map of Pottsville, and the surrounding status screens.  
  
Kristen propelled herself out from under the console on a mechanic's trolley and looked at Lauren with her bright green eyes. She was wearing her armor, and she was powered up into CyberSlash state, unlike her friend, who was wearing a blue cheerleading camp sweatshirt and blue jeans. "I'm creating a friend for us all," she said, enigmatically smiling with her sparkly green lips.  
  
"Huh? Explain for me, I'm lost," Lauren said, getting some of what Kristen was hinting at, but not totally understanding.  
  
"Almost done, just watch the screen," Kristen asked of her. She went back under, letting her metal hi-heeled boots stick out from under the massive console. In a few moments, the console lit up again, and the main computer turned on. Kristen came back out and stood up, much taller than Lauren, especially in the heels.  
  
Code ran across the screen like a flame spreads across a piece of paper. It just kept coming and coming. Kristen smiled at the code, pushing back her long green hair and enjoying the sight. Lauren just stood there with a stupefied look on her face, trying to figure out if this should have meant anything to her.  
  
Then, the screen turned back. After all of that, the screen went black. Lauren was totally lost now. She looked to her friend and said, "And that was what? Was that a friend?"  
  
"No, no, that was just my start-up sequence, Mistress PowerCharge. Quite impressive, wasn't it?" a male voice said to her, emanating from the computer.  
  
"What the? Kristen, who was that?" Lauren said, looking around the screen for something.  
  
"Very funny, Mercurious. Show yourself, hon," she asked of the computer. A young man walked onto the screen. His body was made of binary code and his face was more solid, and required much more code than was needed to create his three-dimensional body. He had no hair on his head, and his face was very uniquely human, yet inhuman at the same time. His eyes glowed with a white light, and he smiled at them both, revealing his white coded teeth. Mercurious was a sight to behold, simply to say.  
  
"Let me introduce myself to you. I am Mercurious, the new onboard artificial intelligence of the main computer. I was created by Master CyberStrike, and installed by Mistress CyberSlash. It is my duty to monitor all aspects of Pottsville, as well as act as an interface for communications between you all during battle. I can calculate battle plans as well, making me an excellent source of battle information, if you should need it on-the-spot. And, all of these duties are duties that I am happy to accept and do for you all. It is an honor to work for the Special Forces Unit, and with excellent co-workers such as yourselves," Mercurious stated to them both, putting his hands behind his back and bowing to them.  
  
"Wow, he's so proper. I like him already. Mercurious, you are very nice, and it is good to meet you. I would shake your hand, but it's a bit hard," Lauren said to him politely. Kristen just chuckled to herself, admiring her work.  
  
"Yes, I would shake your hand, but I agree that it is a bit hard seeing that I have no physical presence. Maybe Mistress Slash could change that problem," Mercurious laughed, eying up Kristen in her metal battle suit.  
  
"Not right now, Mercurious. I do have other things to do. You can watch Pottsville, I have to talk to Lauren for a bit," Kristen asked of him.  
  
"As you wish, Mistress Slash," he said before disappearing and letting the map reappear. Everything looked normal again.  
  
"So, you want to go pick up some coffee? Mercurious will notify us if something happens," Kristen asked Lauren.  
  
"Ooooh! Let's go to Dunkin Donuts and act like cops with our armors on! We can order the powered donuts and get the power all over ourselves!" Lauren said. Kristen laughed in response as they walked out of the command room together.  
  
  
  
"So, are you going drinking tonight? I bought a shitload of booze." Ebert Lindenburgh asked his friends. Together, the three were in Norwegian Woods, a small and expensive suburban community outside of Pottsville.  
  
"Yeah. I haven't been drinking since last night," Victor Franks replied from the back seat. He removed the cigarette from his mouth and shot the wave of smoke out the window of the parked used car.  
  
"Eh, sure. I'll try to get away from my parents, and my sister. It shouldn't be hard," Ryan Nickerson commented. He ran a hand through his short black hair and looked out the window towards his house. His parents weren't home yet, and that was a good thing. That meant that they couldn't see Franks shooting the smoke out the window.  
  
"Yeah, it will be awesome tonight. I got so much booze, and so many people are coming. I even got some girls from Schuylkill Haven too. And they are hot, hot, hot!" Ebert laughed, beginning to drum on the steering wheel in excitement.  
  
"Right on brother!" Franks commented. Ebert could see the huge smile plastered onto his face in his rear view mirror. "Did you get the Yuengling Lager? My favorite?"  
  
"Of course. And I got some Black and Tan too. Nothing like that to kick back with and enjoy,"  
  
"Well. I better be going. I'll see ya all tonight," Nickerson said. He opened the door, and slowly climbed out of the car and walked towards his house. He wasn't more than four steps away when the car peeled out and rocketed away from the house, with Franks and Lindenburgh laughing their heads off as it sailed around the corner and disappeared.  
  
  
  
"What are we gonna do about Andrew? Seriously man, he's really far gone. I think he hit the tile way too hard," Kyle said from the backseat as he sat next to Andrew, who was propped up in an awkward position in the backseat.  
  
"I dunno. Let's go back to his house. He's fine, it's not like he has a concussion or anything. We'll just put him on the couch and use some water to get him up," Colin said, taking over the driver's seat with Smink's keys. He pulled the car out and turned onto Market, and then up to Mahantongo Street. Kyle was clicking Smink's seatbelt securely around him as Colin casually drove to his house.  
  
"Ah, crud, he's drooling. That must be some dream he's having," Kyle said, trying to find a tissue to wipe his mouth off.  
  
"Yuck, that's disgusting man," Colin said, looking in the rear view mirror to see the sight. Yep, Andrew was sitting there, his mouth wide open and drool raining out. He really was just asleep, and that was it. His breathing was fine, and it wasn't like he hit anything on the way down. Kyle was busily trying to keep the spit from running too far out his mouth, but the tissue was getting soggy. So, he found a paper towel and just shoved it into Andrew's mouth. He shrugged as he turned to look in the rear view mirror. He wasn't having much luck.  
  
Just then, Colin's watch began to slightly glow as the screen turned on and an arrow pointed in a direction away from Pottsville. The same thing happened to Smink's watch. He noticed it, and barely looked to see what it was. "Something powerful is in the area. Shit, I wonder what it could be, and it's at a crappy time with Andrew like this. It will have to wait until it gets dangerous, I have to take care of him first," Colin thought. He hit a button on his watch, and both his and Smink's watches went back to normal time mode.  
  
  
  
A white truck rolled into Pottsville and up towards the tree covered Sharp Mountain, which ran the length of the west side of the city. The mountain wasn't exactly huge, but more of a large rolling hill that was characteristic of the Appalachian Range. The mountain was viewable from most parts of the city, but best viewed from the Pottsville High School.  
  
But, inside the truck was what mattered. Three agents in black suits with white undershirts and black ties were sitting on benches installed in the back, and around them was a well-prepared armory. They meant business, and they weren't going to fail their commander.  
  
"You guys know what to do. We use the dealer on the first bush party we find tonight. Not hard at all. And, if it works as expected, we use it on Section 32, after we lure them to us in phase two of 'Dirty Vegas'. Everyone understand?" The one agent asked, apparently the leader.  
  
"Yeah. Michaels, what does that huge thing do, anyway?" another agent asked.  
  
"I'm glad you asked. This beauty does a whole lot," Michaels said, holding up a large silver gun. The barrel was about four feet long, but oddly shaped. It was a foot wide, but only about 1/8th of an inch in height. It looked more like a chute to shoot paper than anything else. At the trigger end, there were four silver boxes loaded into it vertically that resembled card boxes. Michaels cleared his voice and continued to speak. "These boxes at the back are loaded with playing cards. You know, normal, everyday, playing cards. This little circular ball thingy here, above the trigger, well that contains pure black energy from that one crystal we found on the alien spacecraft. When I pull the trigger, one of those cards is shot into the ball area here. It is charged with black energy, and then loaded and fired magnetically at high-propulsion through the chute. When it nears its target, the card unleashes an amazing black explosion of black lightning. I'm told that it is the energy that is the reverse of what that blasted white Medic girl uses. So, instead of healing, it sucks life and leaves the victim in a state of paralysis until re-energized. The re- energizing process takes about, oh, two days. But, all of this is theoretical. It was never field tested, until now. It can supposedly pierce the armor that Section 32 wears."  
  
The agent nodded in response and grinned. The plan was set in motion.  
  
  
  
"Ryan, I want you to meet Ashley, she's from Schuylkill Haven," Lindenburgh said to his friend. The party up on Sharp Mountain was swinging. People were all slugging back the booze around the merry campfire, telling drunken stories and other oddities. Most of them couldn't stand anymore they were so blasted; Franks and Lindenburgh could be included in this category, although they were more use to it than the rest.  
  
The girl standing next to Ebert was tall and beautiful. She had long, straight black hair, which was the most outstanding feature about her figure. Her deep brown eyes could engulf and man's soul, and Ryan almost got lost in them. She was slightly pale, and very proper. It was a wonder why she was here at all. Her figure was thin, and her legs were long, but that made her look as beautiful as she did. All Ryan could do was look. He couldn't think of anything to say to her.  
  
"It's nice to meet you, Ryan," Ashley said. Lindenburgh pushed her down onto the log next to Ryan and laughed as he tossed her a beer.  
  
"You two enjoy yourselves, I'm gonna go try to hook up Franks, if he's in it enough to accept the date. After that, I'll be in the woods with Charlotte. Don't go looking for us, Ryan. You don't want to find us," Lindenburgh laughed. With that, he raised his bottle in a salute and stumbled away from Ryan and Ashley.  
  
"Well, this is the first nutty thing I have ever done in my life. How about you Ryan?" Ashley asked.  
  
"Oh, well, I'm sorta accustomed to it. It's growing on me," he said, taking another swig of his drink and turning his dead eyes back to her. He still didn't know what to say, but he was gonna say something.  
  
"Yeah, well, my parents told me never to drink. But, I don't want to listen to them. It's fun, it really is. I think they are such, well, bastards. Too stuck up for my liking," she said, taking off the cap to her drink.  
  
"Yeah, my parents are the same way. What do your parents think about having sex?"  
  
"Sex? Well, they forbid that as well, duh," she laughed.  
  
"How about you break another rule tonight. I'm quite willing to show the captain. He's in good shape," Nickerson commented with a dirty smile.  
  
"Oh, honey, now you're talking. I feel like being naughty. Let me just get this down first," she said, taking her first sip.  
  
  
  
"I got you now, idiot. These kids are too easy," Michaels said, taking aim with the Lethal Dealer from behind his black sunglasses. He blended in well with the darkness in his black suit.  
  
He steadily aimed the crosshairs in his sights over Nickerson and smiled. This was gonna be easier than he thought. They were so drunk, they hardly moved. All he had to do was pull the trigger.  
  
Is Smink all right from his faint? Can Michaels get off a shot on Nickerson? And where the hell are CyberSlash and PowerCharge during all of this? Oh, God, I don't know how this will end!  
  
Find out in the next thrilling episode of Section 32: Special Forces Unit! Episode 2.2 - The Black Hand! 


	9. Episode 2:2 The Black Hand

Episode 2:2 - The Black Hand  
  
"Heh, this is truly easier than shooting fish in a barrel," Michaels said as he made the final adjustments to his aim. "Good night kiddies," he continued, pulling the trigger and letting the black glowing card burst forth from the barrel of the gun.  
  
  
  
"Wow, you know what, I don't see what this drinking stuff can do to you. I mean, I don't think the world is out of wack or anything. I think the state of drunkenness is something parents make up to scare us," Ashley murmured as she completed her second drink. She looked over to Ryan and smiled, ready to have a night of fun.  
  
"Yeah, I know. I mean I can walk fine!" Ryan said getting up. But, the seven drinks he had were beginning to get to him and he fell over onto the ground, too drunk to stand.  
  
That fall saved him from his fate. The black card hissed past his head and slammed into the tree behind him with a loud thunk. Immediately, the black lightening crackled into the tree, turning the bark white as the energy was removed from it and cast into the energy void of the card. The tree aged as the card did its work, and when done the tree had to have lost 20 years on it life span. The leaves were about to fall any minute, and the bark looked sickly and withered.  
  
"Woah, take it easy there, I think you got up to fast. Let me help you up," she suggested, helping up her fallen boyfriend.  
  
  
  
"God damn it all! He's too out of it to stand! Jerk, just be still for a second!" Michaels cursed, charging up the gun again.  
  
"What is it harder than it appears?" one of the other agents taunted. "Should I hold your hand?"  
  
"Get off my case, Smith, before I test the gun on your bloody carcass," he harassed back. The gun re-charged. He got another shot.  
  
  
  
"You want another drink, it could help you stand better," Ashley asked as she got another drink from the cooler as Ryan sat on the log once again.  
  
"Yeah, sure, I feel like another," he replied, looking over to her with unfocused eyes. Ashley walked over with the bottle in her hand. She stumbled about halfway over and began to fall towards Ryan. All he could do was look up before her body slammed into his and the two fell over onto the dirt. Another card whizzed above them, missing them once again.  
  
Ryan helped Ashley up this time and steadied her as he got the drink from her hand. He sipped on it for a little bit before looking over to her. He took a big swig, and she smiled drunkenly as she looked at him. She was ready to be shown a good time.  
  
Ryan wasn't feeling too well though, and the booze was beginning to get to him. He was about to finish the bottle when he got the urge to let loose upon the ground. He turned to the side, away from his girl, and leaned over. As he elegantly puked, another card whizzed past and barely missed him again. This one flew off of the mountain, and exploded harmlessly in the atmosphere above the town.  
  
"Ok, I'm ready; I'll meet you over in the bushes. Could you throw this out for me?" he asked her.  
  
"Sure, I'll pitch it in the trash bag," she said, reaching out to get the bottle from him. He gave it to her, and began to stumble towards the forest. In the handing of the drink, Michaels took the opportunity to fire once again. As Ryan stumbled off, he stumbled out of the way of the card and it missed him again. The card, however, struck the bottle in Ashley's hand and shattered the neck from the rest of the bottle. The rest of it flew away, and she stood there, bewildered to how she was only holding the neck of the bottle. "Where'd the rest go?" she wondered to herself.  
  
The girl shrugged, and threw the neck into the bag. And with that, she stumbled in the same direction Ryan went, right into the forest to find some lovin'.  
  
  
  
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!!!" Michaels cursed wildly. He missed them way too many times for a marksman of his caliber. His team was on the ground, laughing about the whole situation. His cheeks turned red with anger and he stomped off to get better position, leaving them to roll on the ground in laughter.  
  
"I'll show them that I can shoot, even if it's the last thing I do, damn it. Why do these kids have to be so drunk!" he murmured as he walked through the forest. Up ahead, on the other side of the party grounds, he found a large bush in the trees. That certainly made him smile, and he was wondering why he hadn't seen it before.  
  
"I'll hide in there, and stick the barrel and the sight out through the bush. That way, when the next drunk pair comes along, it'll be all easy- pickins!" he thought as he smiled to himself. He got in position behind the bush and stuck the barrel through the bush. He lay down silently, waiting to find his next target.  
  
But, the silence didn't last for long. A loud moan came from behind him, scaring the daylights out of him. A sweat drop rolled down the back of his head as he turned around with his eyebrows raised and gun ready. He saw Ebert on top of Charlotte, and the two were enjoying themselves very much in their privacy. It was in this moment when Ebert was finally aware of the agent, and Michaels was aware of Ebert.  
  
"What in the bloody hell are you doing back here?" Michaels asked in bewilderment as Ebert's eyes met his.  
  
"Having a little illegal fun. What about you?" he asked, as Charlotte moaned again.  
  
"Testing out an illegal weapon, why?" Michaels replied.  
  
"Because you asked me what I was doing, and I was just wonder what you were doing," Ebert said.  
  
"Oh. Ok,"  
  
"You do this often?"  
  
"Um, no. You?"  
  
"Hell yeah," Ebert said, closing the conversation for a bit. The two stared at one another for a couple seconds in silence as Charlotte continued to enjoy herself with Ebert. Then, a thought came to him. "Hey, I won't say anything if you don't say anything? Deal, buddy?"  
  
"Yeah, sure," Michaels said, a wicked grin slowly evolving onto his face. He raised the gun, which was charged and ready. "I'll make sure you don't say anything," he said as he pulled the trigger.  
  
Ebert had no clue what had happened. He didn't even have time to react as the card hit him. But, the black card floated above the man on the ground and shocked him, taking his energy and replacing it with it's own dark energy. Michaels shot again, this time aiming for the girl. Charlotte too began to scream, a card now dealing with her.  
  
The screams filled the woods. Some of the drunken kids began to flee, afraid the cops were abound. Chaos ensued at the party grounds, and the team of agents found Michaels with Ebert and Charlotte. They all watched the process as the cards took their energy and began to drain them. All they could do was stare in silence at the carnage.  
  
Then, Michaels snapped out of it. He turned around and aimed at some of the other kids. He charged, and fired. A card hit Franks and he too went down on the ground, writing in pain as the card consumed his energy. Another bang from the Lethal Dealer and Frank's date, Victoria, was down on the ground as well. Two more shots as Ryan and Ashley came bounding out of the woods, half dressed and worried about their friends. Soon, the party was deserted of life, except those who were hit by the cards.  
  
"I told you I could shoot," Michaels said, blowing some black smoke away from the exhaust vent of the Dealer. "Six tests of the weapon, just like Area 51 ordered. Nothing more, nothing less," he said to his comrades. "This is why I lead you halfwits. Because I can't be caught by Section 32," he proudly stated.  
  
"Hey, we have some donuts, you guys want any?" came from behind the group. The agents twinged in fear, and Michaels dropped the Dealer, scared to death. Who did they miss?  
  
As Michaels turned around, he was smacked in the face with a Pottsville Crème donut. The filling squired out all over his face and the dough husk fell to the ground with a sick plop as the agent stared at who was standing behind him the entire time.  
  
CyberSlash was twirling a box of donuts on her fingertip as PowerCharge held one in her hand. "You know, these chutes are pretty handy for many things," she said, loading the donut in her hand into the chute under her left hand. She charged up a shot and she grinned at the agents. " And they are quite proficient in the donut slinging field, by the way," she laughed.  
  
She let her burst go and the donut shot out of the chute faster than a clay pigeon that was strapped to a patriot missile. The donut slammed into his gut, exploding with a white powder burst, and caused him to fly backwards into his comrades.  
  
Smith, however, was clever enough to dodge his leader and avoided becoming stuck in the pile up that ensued. He took one look at his foes before diving for the Lethal Dealer, which was lying on the ground amidst the chaos. He grabbed it, and quickly pointed it towards CyberSlash, who wasn't armed.  
  
She took offense to that action and put the donut box down politely. Then, she jumped forwards and performed a mid-air roundhouse kick, straight to the gun. The force of the well-placed blow in the back end caused the gun to fly from Smith's grasp and into the woods, shattering against a tree.  
  
What no one saw, though, was the black crystal that was encased in the ball chamber part of the gun fall out. The momentum from the blow carried the crystal far off into the woods. Where it landed on Sharp Mountain, no one knew.  
  
Smith held his hands out in shock, and CyberSlash stood right next to him in an offensive position. She got up into his face, raised up his sunglasses, and looked straight into his dark brown eyes. "Boo, honey," she said quietly.  
  
He screamed and backed away quickly, not wanting to be flying like that gun did. But, in his haste, he neglected to see what was behind him. He walked backwards straight into the pile of his friends, tripped over their writing bodies, and fell backwards into them, throwing them all down again.  
  
"These guys are a walking comedy of errors!" PowerCharge proclaimed, taking a bite out of a chocolate frosted donut.  
  
"Yeah, now just who are you all anyway, and what the hell is that gun for?" CyberSlash asked, walking towards them as they scrambled in haste to get up.  
  
Michaels was the first one to get smart and reach into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a red button and quickly pressed it in. From out of his jacket, a small metal jetpack appeared. As he got upright, the pack fired off, and he flew upwards quickly, laughing. "We'll be back, suckers!" he screamed as he flew off.  
  
Slash tried to jump upwards to grab his shoe, but missed. He flew off into the sunset, laughing in fear as he just survived an encounter with his main enemy. As Slash concentrated on him, the other three agents ran from her and did the same as Michaels. Together, the group flew off, escaping all interrogation and capture.  
  
"Now what the hell do you think that was all about, Charge?" Slash asked over to Charge, who was now sitting on one of the logs and enjoying the rest of the donuts.  
  
"I dunno, but they sure were weird. Check out all the people they shot with those bloody cards! Six people, lying unconscious before our feet!" she proclaimed, taking another bite of the donut in her hand.  
  
"Yeah, but that gun was odd. Very odd. I'm going to go grab what's left, BRB," she said, running down the hill of the mountain to see where the silver gun went.  
  
There, lying underneath a tree, were the two pieces of the mysterious Lethal Dealer. Cards were strewn about in disarray, as the four ammo boxes were crushed in the collision with the tree. The barrel was cracked in half and lying some distance away from the tree, and the rest of the gun had the footprint of Slash's boot stuck in it. She picked it up and ran back up to Charge, who was still doing nothing.  
  
"Aren't you going to help these people?" Slash finally asked.  
  
"Eh, that's Medic's job," she replied.  
  
"Sure, leave everything to the new girl,"  
  
"Hey, she heals, I don't. Do these people look like they could use a good blast of energy?"  
  
"Ok, you have a point there. I'll call her later; right now I'm more concerned about this weapon and the true function of it. I've already taken the liberty of having Mercurious contact the police. They should be here quite soon, and I wish to be out of here quite soon. Let the police deal with the kids here, and we'll have Medic over at Pottsville Hospital to help out in no time, once I find her," Slash announced, quite proud of her plan.  
  
"Ok, and let's go see where Strike is too. He should have been on top of this sooner than we were. I wonder what could be up?" she said rhetorically. Slash nodded and jumped up into the air and let her boot rockets keep her afloat. Charge harnessed her energy, and created a bright pink aura that lifted her body up into the air majestically. She was level with Slash, and the two flew off in a burst of pink and green energy into the wonderfully orange, purple, and red sky over the City of Pottsville.  
  
Ryan stirred as they left, becoming very restless. The dark energy unleashed inside of him was having a party with his body. The card next to him ripped with a black energy wave in response to his awakening. The energy was toying with him, trying to steal his energy totally. But, the alcohol was stopping it from doing its true damage. Still, the energy was smarter. It began to change its function, trying to find a way around the alcohol. But, all it accomplished was screwing up Ryan's body more. Cracking noises and sickening ripping and gurgling sounds could be heard from his body. Something wasn't right.  
  
The same was happening to the others. Their drunkenness was having an adverse affect on the black energy on their bodies. Both the girls and the guys became more powerful, stronger, and paler. The women became much more attractive, as their wildest dreams were being made into a reality. The men became much more destructive, their dreams of power and control over others becoming a reality.  
  
They all slowly arose and looked around at their surroundings. Ryan's head turned around, looking at the sight of Pottsville below. The pale side of his face smiled happily, the dark marks around his eyes making that side seem perky and joyful. But the hardened black side sneered. The glowing red eye pierced those around him with a fear that no man could imagine. The chagrined jester took only a moment to figure out what he wanted to do.  
  
"Let's party!" he sneered. The others laughed in response.  
  
  
  
4:19 PM, Downtown Pottsville  
  
"Who the hell robs a costume shop?" Jessica asked as Mike, transformed into ChronoTwist, and she walked up to the broken-in costume shop downtown.  
  
"That's a good question. One that I certainly don't have an answer for. No costume shop carries the suit I wear in stock, that's for sure," he joked. "But, whatever information we can find on who did this will certainly help. And, from what I hear, this shop is now a certainly strange sight."  
  
"Why? What could be so bad about a costume shop?" she wondered aloud. Getting closer, she got her answer. The costume shop was wrecked, to say the least. The windows were smashed in, the outer shop was burnt by some sort of blast, and the inside was a complete mess. The costumes were in complete disarray, but nothing seemed to be stolen. Just that a large amount of the costumes were thrown about the place.  
  
Ducking the police tape and walking inside, Chrono and Jess found two investigators hard at work, as well as the three patrolmen who were the first on the scene. But, taking no more than two steps, one of the investigators went right up to them.  
  
"What the hell do you two want? And you know you're breaking five laws by just ducking that police tape?" Inspector Daterson asked. Daterson was a gruff looking man with a shaggy and poorly kept brown beard and short and tangled brown hair. He wore a black hat on his head most of the time, and everyone in town wondered if he ever took it off. His trademark was his black overcoat, which he usually wore closed. There was a rumor that he carried a shotgun and two pistols on his person at all times, but since he never opened the overcoat, no one ever was sure.  
  
"Shut up Daterson, we're the Special Forces and you know better," Jessica began to say. Chrono shut her up quickly and looked into Daterson's eyes with his deep blue ones.  
  
"We're here because CyberStrike sent us. We are to investigate the cause of this odd costume shop theft. What have you found out as of now?" Chrono politely asked.  
  
"So, Strike can't come himself and he sends his little lackey to go investigate. I'm not telling you shit boy, because by now I should have you arrested on so many charges that it could make Justice laugh. Disrupting a crime scene, possession of illegal weapons, disrupting the peace," Daterson began to list.  
  
"Spare us the familiarities, Daterson. I don't need to hear it," Jess said, putting a claw up to his mouth.  
  
"Threatening an officer of the law! And last I checked, you were fighting against the Special Forces, Miss Eve, so why are you with him!" he forcefully asked.  
  
"She's on our side now, Daterson, so cool it," Chrono interrupted, pointing out the black badge logo tattooed onto Jess's pale right shoulder. Daterson cringed at the sight. He couldn't stand the thought of her sitting there and having that ornate design tattooed onto her.  
  
"All right, I'll let you both slide. Now get out of here before I consider arresting you both. And if you need to know, it was a simple arson job. There was nothing stolen except for a couple odd harlequin dresses and jester outfits. So tell Strike to shit off," he said. And with that, the polite inspector turned back around and went to work.  
  
"Well, that was interesting," Chrono said to Jessica as they left the shop.  
  
"Yeah, I think. Why would anyone just steal a couple odd costumes like that and then torch the place? Looking for some action? I really don't think so," she assumed.  
  
"Well, we can see in time, as time tells all," Chrono said to her as they walked up to his neon blue Celica. The two got in, and strapped on their seatbelts.  
  
"Well, I guess so. Now, what are we gonna tell Strike?" Jessica wondered with a smile on her black lips.  
  
"We tell him to give Daterson hell next time he sees him," Chrono laughed. And with that, the two drove off into the city underneath the blazing sunset.  
  
  
  
4:53 PM, The First Union Bank  
  
The tellers were making the final withdrawals of the day as the sun finally set. The teller booths were being locked, the transactions were being finalized, and the rest of the money was on its way into the vault of First Union. But, as the end of the day neared, a group of people walked into the bank, each dressed in a black trench coat with the collar pulled up high around their faces. Their heads were covered with black hats, and all in all, they were similar to Inspector Daterson in dress. They moved in a group, keeping their faces concealed from the camera. The leader approached the nearest teller and placed a large canvas sack onto the counter in front of her.  
  
"I'd like a withdrawal. A very large withdrawal that will probably empty the safe. So, if you would, place the money in the sack, because I feel like gambling tonight," the man said in a twisted voice. The teller leered back, afraid. She couldn't believe that she was being robbed, and for some reason, she couldn't see the man's face.  
  
A red eye suddenly alit from inside the darkness that the collar and hat provided. It glowed with an eerie light and pierced the teller's soul. She began to cry, afraid of being hurt, and began to place money in the sack. The other people in the trenchcoat group did the same to the other tellers, as the sixth member took out the guards on duty with some swift blows and watched the door. A robbery had begun.  
  
  
  
What has been unleashed in the city of Pottsville? What sort of sick and twisted power is this? And can Section 32 stop this plague of darkness?  
  
Find out in the next thrilling episode of Section 32, Episode 2.3: "When the Chips Are Down, and You're Left With a Royal Flush" 


	10. Author's Notes, Story History, and Copyr...

Author's Notes & Story History  
  
Story History  
  
After working with Section 32 and the characters for almost five years now, I've finally felt that it was time to show my work on a global scale. I'm not sure how the public will react to these stories, but after goading from my close friends, I've finally released them.  
  
Section 32: Special Forces Unit was started back in my fifth grade year, and was entitled SECTION 2. Based off of my friends having superpowers, the short story was a good one that I intended to turn into a large novel. Character complications began to arise, and creating suitable powers was becoming harder. People with super strength and super speed and generally normal superpowers began to rub hard on me. I wanted something more.  
  
Next year, the name changed to Section 14 as I went up a grade in my middle school. The concept of the hidden base below the school emerged as one of my classic marks, mostly because it was so funny. The "Elevator of Heck" as I called it idea came about, dropping down a insane amount of stories like a rocket when a character put in a certain button combination.  
  
As the years passed, I finally picked my pen back up in eighth grade and renamed the ongoing superhero project Section 32. That sounded too short, so I then began to call it Section 32: Special Forces Unit. Also that year, I found a linking element for my characters, the idea to use elements of the Earth that will work together.  
  
That year, I made the "Wheel of the Elements", a wheel that had my thirty- two elements on it. It was arranged so opposing elements were on opposite sides, and helpful elements were right next to one another. I still am proud of that wheel.  
  
Also, the concept of Section 32 wearing metal cybernetic armor began. This later became a strong tradition among the Section 32 characters, and they began to change from a rag tag group to a fully-fledged superhero team. But something never clicked about them being "perfect". My friends were silly, uncooperative, and great to be around. I began to incorporate their personalities into my characters more, and slowly but surely, I began to understand how they would act around one another. Section 32 was quickly split apart, because I began to notice that my friends had real attitude problems around one another sometimes. That was a great plot device for me. Characters that were forced to work together but sometimes didn't was great. And, since most of them cracked jokes all the time, the stories began to get funny in an oxymoron kind of way. Section 32 looks quite powerful on the outside, with their metal armors and powerful weapons, but truly they are nothing more than a bunch of teenage comedians, and that's the personality I strive to capture.  
  
Music… Music… I think the music as a weapon idea came about when I created Iris. Having two characters that actually changed roles really changed my story, and it created two new chapters in their history. I'm not going to go into the details yet, but when you see Iris, you can then see why they use music as a weapon.  
  
When I finally moved into the high school at Pottsville, everything clicked. The High School has so many twists and turns, and the nickname "Castle On The Hill"; it was perfect to hide a secret base below it. And with the legends of Pottsville High, and some great people to meet, Section 32 couldn't be located in a better place.  
  
All in all, I'm quite proud of what I have amassed together. Section 32 is, and will always be, my greatest accomplishment.  
  
32 Characters  
  
28 Crystals  
  
04 Years  
  
01 Pottsville Area High School  
  
01 World  
  
1 Hope  
  
Section 32: Special Forces Unit  
  
Author's Notes  
  
The first chapter, "The Coming of PowerCharge" seems disjointed, slow, and generally not like my writing. That was because this part of the story was originally an eighth grade composition I did for English class, it was never intended to be in with the actual stories, but more as a stand alone adventure for Lauren.  
  
The Coming of PowerCharge focuses on the use of the enigmatic silver watch that really doesn't have a history. The watch's functions range from use of transformations to just basic communication. The story also focuses on the metallic suits they wear, and basic transformations. I tried to use it to get a history for Lauren, and to show that not all crystal holders knew that such a powerful artifact struck them.  
  
  
  
Also a disclaimer: These stories are based off of the characters of people I know. If you know I write (And because I went around asking everyone permission to use their personalities in eighth grade) you know that the character is probably you. All evil characters, except for Black Rose, are totally fictionous. I made all evil characters up. Black Rose is one of my friend's creations, and he asked if I would include him into my stories to fight Section 32. I accepted.  
  
Copyright Information: Section 32, Section White, the logos of the Members of Section 32, the logos of the Members of Section White, the StarSeekers, the Pottsville Mafia, and all other characters that sound fictionous are the property of Wildfire Industries, and exclusively Delton Wildfire. You may not steal their characters in whole, or in part, in any way. I do not wish to see my characters in someone else's fanfic unless I exclusively express permission. You may e-mail me with any questions, or to ask permission to do a crossover story if you really want to use my characters that badly.  
  
Black Rose is property of Mike Fox. That character is not mine and therefore, I cannot lend out use of the character of Black Rose. Again, do not steal any characters for your own use.  
  
Pottsville High Area School, Nativity BVM High School, The City of Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill Haven Area High School, Blue Mountain Area High School, Frackville, Ashland, North Schuylkill Area High School, and The Pottsville Area School District are all real places. They are not fictionous. However, the events that take place in these areas, and the people outside of Section 32 are fictionous. Therefore, students of any rivaling school districts of Pottsville and townspeople of these cities are truly fictionous. They are not meant to represent anyone. If you see someone or something that you believe represents you, and you are not in Section 32, trust me, I didn't base it off of you because I've probably never met you.  
  
With that said and done, it's time to get on with the stories.  
  
Welcome to Section 32: Special Forces Unit. 


	11. Character Index

Section 32 - Character Index  
  
There are a lot of characters in the city of Pottsville. All of them have their own alliances and friends and enemies. Trying to keep track of all of them is tough, so I devised this great character index to help y'all out when you need to keep track of a certain character. Enjoy the added information.  
  
-----Colin-----  
  
Alias: CyberStrike  
  
Position: Commander of the Male Wing of Section 32  
  
Patron Colors: Silver and Neon Green  
  
Crystal: Crystal of CyberSpace  
  
Powers: Control of computers, energy attacks, use of crystal katana.  
  
Weapon: The CyberSword, a green crystal katana.  
  
Final Signature Attack: Final Strike  
  
Information: The leader and theoretically the main character of Section 32, Colin is the laid back type of guy who doesn't let that much get to him. Or, so he wants to think. He's usually pretty kind about most things, but he gets really pissed when you question him about something he prides himself on knowing, especially computers. Try to show you know something more than him about computers, and he'll get pissed for you questioning his intelligence. But, most people in Pottsville can't question his intelligence, because he really truly does know his way around computers quite well. Hence the reason he controls the Crystal of CyberSpace.  
  
As CyberStrike, he tries to stand out as a leader of the group, but ends up doing so only in name. Most don't listen to his commands, which really grinds his nerves. All of his intentions are meaningful, but just don't have the impact on others that they deserve.  
  
------Andrew------  
  
Alias: FireStorm  
  
Nicknames: Smink, The Smink, Sminky, Schmingy, many things.  
  
Position: Master of Fire  
  
Patron Colors: Dark Silver and Neon Red  
  
Crystal: Crystal of Fire  
  
Powers: Control over fire, energy attacks, use of a tech-crossbow and flamethrower.  
  
Weapon: The Crossbow of Embers  
  
Final Signature Attack: Fahrenheit Rising  
  
Information: Truly the most laid back of the ENTIRE group, Andrew lets nothing get to him. One of Colin's best friends, he can also be considered a main character, although not as seen as Colin may be. He doesn't question anyone about his or her actions, and he requires the same treatment in return. Although he seems ditzy, out of it, and generally not trustworthy, Andrew is sharper than the eye can see. He remembers to do more things than other people, and can really accomplish something once he sets his mind to it. The problem truly is getting him to set his mind to it. Also, Smink, as friends call him, is one of the odder people you'll meet. Anyone who can walk down a street, scream, "I love nuts!" and then keep walking like nothing ever happened is usually classified as nuts himself.  
  
Andrew as FireStorm is a very focused and willing person. While he has some strange plans and ideas, he knows what to do and will usually do it. However, he is more or less a "loose cannon" and is quite prone to going off on a tangent. He is also known as the true pyro of the bunch, and maybe attacks more than needed. FireStorm is the ONLY member of Section 32 to dual wield his weapons. His right arm can convert into a flamethrower while he holds the crossbow in his left. 


End file.
